"They [European consumers] are really raising these questions [on price reduction], at least during the crisis when the demand for gas declined but Gazprom made concessions on no issues," Putin said after a meeting with his counterparts from the Commonwealth of Independent States in St. Petersburg.
In early 2010, a number of Gazprom's European partners, including Germany's E.On Ruhrgas and France's GDF Suez, asked the Russian giant, which supplies more than a quarter of Europe's natural gas needs, to reduce the gas price mentioned in the long-term contracts.
The European companies cited changes on the gas market after the global financial crisis, such as the decline in gas demand.
