Russia not to oppose pipeline link to Poland: Putin - Yahoo! News

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia will not oppose building a pipeline link from the projected pipeline under the Baltic Sea to Poland or other countries, Russian President
Vladimir Putin' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Vladimir Putin has said as quoted by the RIA-Novosti news agency.
"We are not against a branch to Poland. We are ready to work on equal partnership basis. We only need to understand what volumes we will be able to transport through this pipeline," Putin said late Sunday.
Poland had earlier refused to participate in a project by German firms BASF and E.ON and Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom to build a pipeline under the Baltic Sea.
The pipeline is set to become operational in 2010.
Warsaw had also rejected Germany's idea of a proposed pipeline linking Poland to the planned German gas terminal at Wilhelmshafen, on the North Sea.
Poland and the neighbouring Baltic states were angry about being left out of the gas pipeline talks with Russia.
They had wanted the pipeline to pass across their territory to ensure that Russia would not apply an energy blockade against them or try to manipulate prices.