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Moreover, if the operating companies are governed by foreigners, the latter should receive a special certificate. Thereupon, foreign directors should complete a specific procedure.

Thus, they should prove that there is no threat to the energy safety of the EU; the EU companies don't have to do this.

Russia thinks that this principle as well as several other principles of the Third Energy Package, considering nondiscrimination and access to the market, violates the EU liabilities to the WTO. The Third Energy Package threatens the supply of Russian gas to the EU and the creation of a new pipe line within South Stream project.

Russia has been unsuccessfully trying to solve the issue for several years.

Under the WTO principles, the EU and Russia have two month to hold bilateral meetings on the issue. After that, Russia can demand that the WTO creates a board of judges to entertain the action.

Russia's representative noted that the issue could be solved during the upcoming meetings.

"The aim of such meetings is to find solutions," the source says.

"We don't want to have legal proceedings with Brussels, we want to ensure predictable conditions for export of Russian gas to the EU in compliance with the rules of the WTO," the source said.

At the same time, the source denies any connection of the suit with the crisis in Ukraine. "We started prepearing the law suit last year, when it became clear that there was no other way of solving the problem," the source said.

The Third Energy Package is a set of regulations for an internal gas and electricity market in the European Union. Its purpose is to further open up the gas and electricity markets in the European Union. The package was proposed by the European Commission in September 2007, and adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union in July 2009. It entered into force on 3 September 2009.

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http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_01/Russia-sues-EU-over-its-Third-Energy-Package-4716/