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Russia asks EC not to make politically biased moves re Gazprom

The European Commission launched the anti-monopoly investigation against the Russian gas giant on Thursday

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, September 6 (Itar-Tass) —— Moscow urges Brussels to refrain from politically biased decisions over the Russian gas major Gazprom, the Department of Information and Press of the Russian Foreign Ministry told Itar-Tass on Thursday in comments on the anti-monopoly investigation, which the European Commission launched against the Russian gas giant.

“In this respect, we hope that Brussels will refrain from politically biased decisions in order not to inflict damages to the time-proved cooperation between Russia and the European Union in the energy sector,” the ministry said in the comments.

On September 4, the European Commission stated about the launch of a formal procedure in order to investigate whether the Russian natural gas supplier Gazprom violates the European rules of competition, particularly in the countries in Eastern and Central Europe, including Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Hungary. Under the European legislation, a fine for violating the rules of competition can reach ten percent from annual turnover of the company and it can reach over ten billion euros in case of Gazprom.

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

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