MOSCOW, June 6 (RIA Novosti) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian government to officially notify foreign states of Russia's refusal to join the Energy Charter, the government press service reported Thursday.
Putin's order says the Energy Ministry's proposal agreed with the Foreign Ministry and other bodies of executive power has been accepted.
The original Energy Charter was signed in The Hague on December 17, 1991. Russia signed the document in Lisbon in 1994 but did not ratify it.
Negotiations on Russia joining the Energy Charter had been held since January 2000.
The Energy Charter and related documents are based on five key elements: the encouragement of capital investment in the energy sector; state sovereignty over natural resources; free access to energy markets; free transit of energy products; and free flow of capital linked with investment in energy.
Russia fears that if it ratified the Energy Charter the European Union could demand it end the monopoly on access to the Russian pipeline system. At the same time, without ratification of the document, the European internal energy market remains closed to Russian energy companies.
