RUSSIA - Oct. 30 - Putin In Paris Signs EU Energy Pact.

Visiting Paris as ruler for the first time, President Putin signs a 20-year strategic partnership pact and a series of related contracts with French Pres. Chirac (the EU's current President) and EU Exec. Pres. Prodi. This will greatly boost Russian oil, gas and power exports to the EU. Gazprom recently signed a letter of intent with Ruhrgas, Wintershall, Gaz de France and Snam to build a major gas pipeline to bypass Ukraine via Poland and Slovakia. (See the pact's background in Recorder No. 16 of Diplomat News Service 18). A working group headed by EU Director Gen. for Energy Francois Lamoureux and Deputy PM for energy Viktor Khristenko will look at boosting EU's imports of Russian oil, gas and power up to 2020. Options would include optimising existing supplies as well as studying new projects including pipelines. Prodi says there would need to be a clear Russian legal framework for EU investments in the federation's upstream and downstream energy sectors, before EU's energy imports could rise significantly. On the same day, Putin visits OECD's Paris HQ and holds talks with its Sec-Gen. Donald Johnston, who says the Russian President is "genuinely committed to a major reform process" which could result in a further improvement in Moscow's credit rating. He tells Putin the OECD has recommended that its members upgrade Russia's export credit rating. (This is the 6th EU-Russia summit which sees the two sides agree for the first time on a joint statement that a political solution should be found urgently for the conflict in Chechnya. Although Putin made clear that Russia would continue to hunt down "terrorists... who kidnap, behead and mutilate their victims", the joint statement marks an important thaw in relations between Chirac and Putin. Until this week the Russian leader has held back from visiting France largely because of French criticism of Russian military methods in Chechnya. Prodi says he would travel to Kiev next week for talks aimed at lessening tensions between Russia and Ukraine over such problems as the theft of Russian gas from pipelines passing through Ukraine on its way to W. Europe. The two sides also agree to hold "specific consultations" on defence, develop a "strategic dialogue" on security, and enlarge the scope of regular talks on disarmament, weapons control and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.