PLOCK, Poland (AP) – Polish President Lech Kaczynski met his Ukrainian counterpart on Wednesday for talks on energy cooperation as both nations try to wean themselves off their dependence on Russian supplies.
Kaczynski and Ukraine’s Viktor Yushchenko were greeted by a military honor guard during a red-carpet ceremony in the old town square in the central city of Plock ahead of planned meetings with the management of Poland’s oil giant PKN Orlen.
The talks are expected to focus on plans to extend Ukraine’s 670-kilometer (410-mile) Odessa-Brody oil pipeline to Plock, home to Orlen’s main refinery. The plan envisions pumping Caspian Sea oil through the pipeline to Plock to help diversify the two countries’ energy sources.
Poland, which was once a Soviet satellite, and Ukraine, which was once a part of the Soviet Union, are both pushing to end their heavy dependence on Russian energy supplies.
Concerns about the reliability of Russian oil and gas supplies increased after Moscow early this year cut off supplies to pipelines running through Belarus and Ukraine to Europe in pricing disputes with those countries.
