BRUSSELS (AFP) – European ministers called Tuesday for a "new partnership" with Russia to secure EU energy imports, after Moscow's natural gas war with Ukraine hit the bloc's supplies in January.

The energy ministers, meeting in Brussels, want to persuade Russia to finally ratify the Energy Charter Treaty -- which sets the rules for the international energy trade -- as a sign of goodwill for the future.

"We need a new energy partnership with Russia," said Austrian Economy Minister Martin Bartenstein, who chaired the meeting as current EU president.

"Ideally we would want to avoid the sort of things that happened at the beginning of this year or at least be able to defuse and resolve them quickly," he told reporters.

Russia meets around 20 percent of the natural gas needs of Europe -- the world's second largest energy market -- and fears have grown about a dependency on those supplies since the gas conflict during a particularly tough winter.

The crisis reduced the volume of gas piped to western Europe across the former Soviet state, exposed weaknesses in the Union's energy policy and highlighted the powerful influence resources can have on foreign policy.

"In terms of external relations, with big partners such as Russia, it is important that we see the development of a European strategy," said British Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks.

The EU and Russia began an "energy dialogue" in 2000 on a number of issues, including energy supply, power grids and research, but an EU official said the idea now was for the dialogue to transform into concrete measures.