Poland seeks EU help to solve problems with Russia

KIEV, Nov 15 (Reuters) Poland called today for European Union mediation to help negotiate an end to its trade and energy row with Russia, which is holding up a landmark cooperation deal between the EU and Moscow.

But a senior Kremlin official said it was up to Poland to produce a solution without any need for EU involvement.

Warsaw is holding up consensus in the 25-nation bloc on terms for opening the cooperation talks at a November 24 EU-Russia summit and insisting Brussels demand commitments from Moscow to allow Polish food imports and guarantee secure energy supplies.

EU foreign ministers failed to agree on a mandate on Monday and referred the issue back to their ambassadors.

Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, speaking after talks in Ukraine, said Warsaw wanted only that Russia treat it like any other EU member.

''Groundless, unfair restrictions have been used against Poland and, given the situation, the EU must react,'' Kaczynski told a news conference.

''Poland wants no more than to have Russia treat it in the same way it does other EU countries. We hope that, with the EU as a go-between and in bilateral talks, we can solve this issue.

''There is still time for an overall solution. I hope that with a bit of good will, the matter can be resolved.'' In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin's senior adviser on EU affairs demanded clarification of a reference by Kaczynski this week to possible EU sanctions on Russia if Moscow did not lift its ban on imports of Polish meat and some other foods.

Speaking to Interfax news agency, Sergei Yastrzhembsky asked whether Warsaw intended sanctions to apply ''to deliveries of Russian energy resources to Europe, including Poland''.

''Our partners in Warsaw know full well how to solve these problems,'' he said. ''There is no doubt they may be solved only in the framework of bilateral relations and clearly without the participation of the EU.'' POLITICAL LEVEL Yastrzhembsky said talks between the EU and Russia should not become ''the hostage of national problems between Russia and some countries of the EU''.

A Polish diplomat, speaking in Brussels, said a new meeting of EU envoys had produced no change in negotiating positions.

A deal was still possible before the Helsinki summit with Putin, due to launch broad negotiations on energy, trade and political cooperation, but it would be difficult, the diplomat said.

An official of the EU's Finnish presidency said the issue would now have to be taken up at a political level.

Russia banned some Polish food imports last year after discovering forged veterinary certificates. Poland and the EU criticised the move, saying Polish products were accepted across the continent.

Warsaw has also demanded that Russia ratify a European Energy Charter Treaty that would force it to liberalise its oil and gas sector. Moscow is seeking changes to the document.

REUTERS SY VV2139