EU to discuss Russian energy, Gazprom at summit

MOSCOW, May 23 (Reuters) European Union leaders will press Russian President Vladimir Putin to ensure stable energy supplies and reform gas giant Gazprom at a summit this week which could set the tone for a Group of Eight gathering in July.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel arrive in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday for the summit on Thursday.

The EU, Russia's biggest trading partner, is keen to ensure stable energy supplies from Russia after Gazprom briefly cut off the gas to Ukraine in January, disrupting Russian gas supplies to Europe for the first time in decades.

''The summit will give some orientations on the subject of energy,'' Marc Franco, head of the European Commission's mission to Russia, told Reuters.

''We want secure supplies and the Russians want secure demand. It is clear that we will have to find some kind of arrangement in order to, shall we say, promote these common goals.'' Officials in Brussels and Moscow said energy would top discussions, which could also focus on how to deal with Russia's neighbours and Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Putin, seeking to leverage Russia's massive resource base into geopolitical clout, has placed energy security at the heart of the agenda for July's Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg.

But Russia-EU relations have been rattled over widely different perceptions of Moscow-based Gazprom, which controls a fifth of world gas reserves.

''Barroso has a lot of influence and authority with the four leaders of European states (in the G8),'' Igor Shuvalov, the Russian official charged with preparing the agenda for the G8 summit, told a news briefing last week.

''It is in the interest of both the European community and Russia to conduct the summit positively and this could have a significant influence on the results of the summit in St Petersburg.'' MORE REUTERS CH VA RAI1127