Sharjah24 – AFP: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Europe was to blame for the current energy crisis, after soaring gas prices spurred accusations that Moscow is withholding supplies to pressure the West.
"They've made mistakes," Putin said in a televised meeting with Russian energy officials.
He said that one of the factors influencing the prices was the termination of "long-term contracts" in favour of the spot market.
"It turned out, and today this is absolutely obvious, that this policy is wrong," Putin said.
European and UK gas prices surged Wednesday by more than 25 percent, energised by soaring demand before the northern hemisphere winter.
Critics have accused Moscow of intentionally limiting gas supplies to Europe in an effort to hasten the launch of Nord Stream 2, a controversial pipeline connecting Russia with Germany.
Earlier on Wednesday, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied those claims.
"First and foremost -- we don't just think -- we insist that Russia does not and cannot have any role in what is going on in the European gas market," Peskov told reporters.
Putin said on Wednesday that Russian energy giant Gazprom should not reduce gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine and must honour its current contractual obligations.
"Gazprom believes that it would make more economic sense and be more profitable to pay a fine to Ukraine and increase the volume of gas pumped through new systems," the Russian president said.
"But I ask (it) not to do this," he added.
At the same time the Kremlin chief said that Ukrainian gas pipelines had not been repaired "for decades" and ramping up supplies via the post-Soviet country could lead to "negative consequences."
"Something can burst there at any moment," Putin said.
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