No interest in the pipeline

Deputy Economy Minister Piotr Naimski has said that Poland is not interested in contributing to the building of the controversial Russo-German Baltic gas pipeline. "We're buying sufficient amounts of gas from the Russian Federation already. Joining the pipeline wouldn't amount to a new transit route, so we don't have any interest in it," Naimski said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had earlier said that Russia would welcome Polish investors in the project.

The planned pipeline is to be 1,200 kilometers long and will be capable of carrying 55 billion cubic meters of gas annually and would link Russia and Germany under the Baltic sea.

Poland has criticized the project, saying it is much more expensive than running the pipeline through Poland and claims it would be much easier for Russia to turn off gas supplies without reducing sales to Western Europe. Poland currently imports most of its gas from Russia, with Gazprom supplying almost 50 percent of domestic consumption.

Russia, however, maintains that countries excluded from the project have nothing to worry about: "No changes are taking place in the direction of reducing gas deliveries along other routes, and this is a position that we share with Germany," Lavrov said. (Reuters)