Russian President Vladmir Putin on Thursday resisted European pressure to open his country's energy sector to foreign firms ahead of a weekend meeting of Group of Eight leaders that is set to address energy security.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during an interview with the host of German ZDF television's political journal Berlin Mitte Maybrit Illner (not pictured) in the Novo-Ogaryovo presidential residence outside Moscow July 13, 2006. [Reuters]

 

Putin told German television network ZDF Russia would only be prepared to open up its energy sector if it was given equal access to markets abroad.

The European Union is pushing Moscow to commit to the terms of an energy charter that would oblige it to open up its energy sector to foreign firms. Moscow has resisted.

"If we at any time ratify those treaties, if our partners have access to the heart of our economy, then we also want to have access to the heart of their economy, so that this cooperation is equal," Putin told ZDF.

"We are ready to work together in the energy sector, but on an equal footing," he added in a transcript of the interview, which ZDF recorded on Tuesday and is due to broadcast later on Thursday.

Consumers of Russian energy have been concerned about its reliability as a supplier since gas flows to several European Union states were briefly disrupted in January.

For the summit, G8 countries have sidestepped a fight. Diplomats say the final communique will echo the principles of the charter, without holding Russia to specific commitments.