(KHANTY MANSIYSK) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for a fresh start in relations with the European Union on Friday, as the two sides held talks in Siberia on a new partnership accord.

Opening the talks with top EU officials in the Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk, Medvedev called for a "new impulse in relations" and said "we need an open dialogue without any taboos."

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso echoed his comments, calling for a "new chapter."

Ties between Russia and the EU were strained under Medvedev's predecessor, Vladimir Putin, notably over EU worries about Russia's domination of Europe's energy market.

Barroso also signalled the EU wanted a greater role in the sensitive issue of "frozen conflicts" around the former Soviet Union, a reference above all to Russia's dispute with Georgia over the separatist Abkhazia region.

Both the EU and Russia have "a responsibility to do more to resolve some of the conflicts that have remained frozen too long," Barroso said.

The talks in Siberia are partly intended to launch negotiations on a new overarching Russian-EU accord, to replace one that dates from 1997.

Barroso on Friday called for a lowering of obstacles to trade, echoing recent EU calls for greater openness to foreign investment in the Russian upstream energy sector.

"We must do more to find solutions to some of the obstacles that continue to hinder further expansion of our trade ties," said Barroso.

However in a sign that Russia plans to play hardball in expected negotiations on energy ties, Medvedev offered a quick reminder of his country's massive energy power.

"This is where the energy streams that flow to Europe are formed," Medvedev said, referring to the Khanty-Mansiysk region, source of 7.5 percent of global oil supply.

Officials have said energy is a key priority for Friday's talks, with Europe looking to help its companies secure a slice of Russia's vast oil and gas reserves and Moscow demanding access to lucrative European energy markets.

On Russia's simmering row with Georgia over Abkhazia, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on a visit to Abkhazia this month that he wanted the EU to play a greater role in resolving the conflict.

Russian officials insist Moscow's peacekeeping forces must play the primary role as an intermediary in Abkhazia, in the face of Georgian criticism that the forces are actually propping up the separatists.

Sabre-rattling between Georgia and Russia over Abkhazia has grown stronger since April when Moscow said it would establish formal ties with the separatist government and then boosted peacekeeping troops in the region without Tbilisi's consent.

On the EU-Russia accord, Brussels finally won the go-ahead for talks on the new document after earlier objections raised by Lithuania and Poland, both of which fell under Moscow's control in the Soviet era.

Russian officials have said they hope that member states will not hold up the reaching of an accord by bringing "politicised" issues into the equation.

The EU-Russian Federation Summit, 26-27 June 2008

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