BRUSSELS. April 15 (Interfax) - An instruction issued to the European Commission by the European Council on Foreign Relations in Luxembourg to draft an answer to Russian President Vladimir Putin's letter to European leaders concerning gas exports "appears to be somewhat strange", Moscow's envoy to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, said.
"The EU council's conclusions say a great deal about the need to extend financial and economic assistance to Ukraine, but there is no actual response to the message that was forwarded by our president to the heads of 18 European countries last Thursday, except for a reference that the European Union instructed the European Commission to prepare such a reply," Chizhov told reporters, when commenting on the results of the latest meeting of EU foreign ministers.
"This appears to be somewhat strange because this message was not addressed to the European Commission. Furthermore, only 13 out of these 18 countries to which the letter was addressed are members of the EU," he said.
"But if these 13 countries prefer letting the European Commission answer for them, let's see what kind of response will follow," Chizhov said.