Moscow  - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso faces difficult talks in Moscow Friday with Russian leaders on how to mend ties shredded by trade rows, a war and the recent gas supply crisis.

Energy security is expected to top the agenda after the European Union saw gas supplies cut for nearly two weeks in the freezing cold last month while Russia resolved a bilateral dispute with Ukraine over gas deliveries and transits.

Friday's summit was initially to be held last August, but was postponed because of Russia's war with Georgia - a conflict that further antagonized the EU's ties with Moscow.

But European diplomats emphasized the need to get relations with Moscow back on track ahead of the talks.

"It is urgent to get this relationship to work to our best advantage," Barroso said in a statement from the commission late Thursday.

"The continuing financial and economic crisis as well as the new security and energy challenges we face underline our interdependence," he said.

The European Union said it would continue to back Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation, which it views as a rung on the ladder towards normalizing trade relations with its largest neighbour.

The EU is by far Russia's largest trading partner, whilst the bloc is dependent on Russia for over a quarter of its gas and oil supplies.

The talks will see Barroso and nine EU commissioners meet their Russian counterparts, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, a spokeswoman for the EU's delegation in Moscow said.

But despite the softer rhetoric on both sides a host of smaller trade issues crowd the schedule for meetings and observers are sceptical on the chances of any significant progress on reaching a new EU-Russia partnership pact.

Moscow and Brussels have been back and forth on a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement to govern their relations for over two years now - allowing the old pact to expire last year.

Among the issues cluttering the agenda are more stringent visa regulations by Moscow and battles over tariffs levied by each side. Only this week, Moscow angered EU member states by imposing a toll on some foreign trucks. (dpa)