Russia on Thursday toughened its stance in discussions with the European Union over energy prices

Russia on Thursday toughened its stance in discussions with the European Union over energy prices, insisting it would not abandon the exports monopoly of Gazprom as a condition for entry into the WTO. Pascal Lamy, the EU trade commissioner, said on Thursday at the end of trade negotiations in Moscow that for the first time he had received "an extremely clear signal" from Mikhail Kasyanov, the Russian prime minister, that the export monopoly was a "red line" that it would not be willing to cross. The comments followed equally harsh remarks by Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, last week that he would resist demands for excessive liberalisation of the Russian gas market. The difference between export prices and far lower domestic gas prices in Russia is proving a sticking point in talks over WTO accession with the EU, which Russian officials last week described as reaching a "dead end". However, Mr Lamy said that progress had been made at the talks and that "we have started converging towards a final design". He said he was not ready to say whether or not EU member states would agree to respect the export monopoly demands, but stressed he was aware of the extreme sensitivity of the issue. He said the EU had no intention of damaging Gazprom, Russia's gas monopoly, and jeopardise one of the EU's leading gas suppliers.