RusEnergy

29 August, 2008 - Upstream - Germany believes that Russia will stick to its contracts to deliver oil to Europe despite a threat of sanctions from EU nations, a government spokesman said today. "We firmly believe that the contracts will be fulfilled," Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm told reporters at a regular government news conference wrote Reuters. Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper had reported today that the Russian government had told at least one of its oil companies to prepare for a possible cut in shipments to Europe in response to threatened sanctions. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said yesterday that EU leaders were considering imposing sanctions on Russia, but a senior French diplomat said todday that in fact no sanctions were being planned. Wilhelm declined to comment on whether Germany would support sanctions against Russia, a subject European Union leaders had been expected to discuss at a summit on Monday in Brussels. "For the Chancellor, it is important that there is a clear signal of political unity from the EU meeting," said Wilhelm. He added that EU leaders agreed that Georgia's territorial integrity must be guaranteed and that Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia was unacceptable. Wilhelm also said the EU meeting would address the implementation so far of the 6-point peace plan. "Other than that, I do not want to anticipate Monday's meeting," he said.