Russia agrees to energy warning system

Moscow: Russia and the European Union have agreed to set up an early warning system to flag any disruptions to gas and oil supplies through Russian pipelines, a senior Kremlin official said.

The agreement comes ahead of a summit between Russia and the EU in Portugal tomorrow, preparations for which have been clouded by disagreements on energy issues, human rights and a Russian ban on Polish meat imports.

"We have been able to reach an agreement on the creation of a mechanism for early warning which is being created... to notify in good time about any problems arising with supply and demand," Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief adviser on EU relations said.

Russia is one of the EU's main energy suppliers.

An opposition victory in last Sunday's Polish election has raised hopes that relations between Poland and Russia will improve but Yastrzhembsky said it was now too late for some of the issues to be resolved at Friday's summit.