MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia sees no point
in remaining a signatory to the 1991 Energy Charter, which it
has not ratified, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said after a
meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart on Tuesday.
"We have said before that we do not consider ourselves
bounded by the charter, and now we can say that we see no point
in remaining a signatory to the document," Putin said.
The original Energy Charter was signed in the Hague on
December 17, 1991. By ratifying the treaty, Russia would have
to give access to its pipelines for free natural gas transit
from Central Asia to the European Union. However, Russian
companies would not be able to freely access European pipelines.
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