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Russia is planning to start talks on a new cooperation treaty with the European Union (EU) before the end of this year, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

"We hope the first round of consultations on a new treaty will begin before the end of the year after the November Russia-EU summit in Finland," Lavrov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying while meeting European businessmen.

The 25-member bloc, which depends on Russia for 25 percent of its gas and oil imports, was keen to formulate new principles of energy cooperation with Moscow through a new treaty.

The current treaty -- the Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation between Russia and the EU -- will expire next year.

Moscow, however, had earlier been reluctant to start talks on such a treaty, saying that the new one must focus on a long-term Russian-EU ties.

A treaty on strategic cooperation would be an ideal format for such a document, Lavrov said.
 
"This should be an ample juridical and political document based on the principles of equality and mutual profit," he said.

A Kremlin aide said on Friday that Moscow would not speed up work on a new agreement with the EU.

"Attempts to make the text of the future agreement excessively concentrated on energy" did not suit Russia, Kremlin aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky said.

"This must be a basic treaty, aimed at the long-term prospective of ten to 15 years, reflecting all the main spheres of cooperation, but not aimed at the settlement of current problems," he said.

The Kremlin aide said if both sides failed to finish work on the new document as scheduled, the current document could be extended. "It will not affect cooperation with the EU."

"It is always difficult to conduct negotiations with the EU," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2006)