Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has dismissed allegations by U.S. diplomats of Rome's dependence on Moscow in energy issues, which have been published by WikiLeaks.
"Independence and energy security correspond to Italy's national interests. No one can decide for us in this respect," Frattini said in a TV broadcast on Saturday.
"Our way is diversification [of energy sources]: first Russia, then Libya, then Algeria and Arab countries of the Persian Gulf. Italy itself decides on it," the minister said.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's "extraordinarily close relationship" with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was touched upon in the recently released WikiLeaks documents. The deal between Russian energy giant Gazprom and Italy's Eni over the South Stream gas pipeline project, according to the whistleblower website, was "causing intense US suspicion."
The South Stream gas pipeline designed to transport Russian gas to Western Europe under the Black Sea bypassing Ukraine is to be jointly built by Gazprom, Eni and Electricite de France (EdF). The construction of the pipeline, widely seen as a rival to the EU-backed Nabucco, is expected to begin in 2013.
Frattini said on Saturday Italy had never covered its intentions in the energy sphere from the United States.
"[U.S. Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton had asked me to provide information regarding Eni's activities in the South Stream project, and I organized a meeting in the United States with [Eni CEO Paolo] Scaroni in order to explain this project," he said.
Commenting on Russia's relations with the United States, Frattini said Rome was always seeking rapprochement between the two countries and considered Bush administration's attempts to isolate Russia a mistake.
Since Barack Obama became the U.S. president, Rome and Washington have a common position regarding Moscow, he said.
"Russia should be a global player, and we can help it trust NATO more," the minister added.
The comments came a day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as part of Russian-Italian extended intergovernmental talks.
After the talks, which took place on Friday in the Russian ski resort of Krasnaya Polyana at the Black Sea coast, Russian state-controlled power trader Inter RAO and Italy's energy group Enel signed a memorandum of partnership intentions.
An Inter RAO official told RIA Novosti the two companies agreed to improve cooperation in renewable energy and consider joint projects in wind energy, both in Russia and the CIS countries.
Medvedev said after the talks that Russia was interested in all leading countries of the European Union taking part in the modernization of Russia's economy. "We need technology, skills, help with personnel. In this sense we expect that such kind of relations will develop with Italy," he said.
ROME, December 5 (RIA Novosti)
