Moscow fulfills its gas export obligations, including transit through Ukraine, the president has said
Accusations that Russia has stopped natural gas supplies to the EU are “complete nonsense,” President Vladimir Putin stated on Thursday.
The decline in gas exports to the bloc which resulted in a protracted energy crisis is not the fault of Moscow, but of the countries that have decided to abandon Russian energy, Putin stressed.
Russia continues to deliver natural gas to Europe because Gazprom is a “reliable partner” and fulfills all of its obligations, including transit through Ukraine, the president said during his annual live TV press conference in Moscow.
“We also receive money, of course. Ukraine receives [payments] for transit, as if we didn’t supply Ukraine; in fact, they consume our gas,” Putin noted.
He dismissed claims from a number of Western politicians that Moscow cut gas supplies to Western Europe last year. “The fact that…