Europe seeks to reduce need for Russian energy

ROME (AP) — The Group of Seven industrialized powers and the European Union have resolved to cooperate to keep Russian President Vladimir Putin from using oil and gas supplies as a weapon in the increasingly violent Ukrainian crisis, an official said Tuesday.

Britain’s energy secretary, Ed Davey, said a two-day meeting in Rome found participants agreed to develop medium- and long-term policies to reduce the level of dependence on Russia’s oil and gas by much of Europe.