Russian natural gas is determined by the market, not by the Kremlin,
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on the conference on the second day of the G8 summit.
?We have seen the end of the time when we set prices for our partners. The market now determines everything.?
Putin added that the more stability there was in the energy sphere, the more stable prices would be.
He said that fighting in the Middle East and natural disasters in both South and North America had contributed to high oil prices. ?But we, I would like to stress again, we are targeting our work toward minimizing risks and that means stabilizing prices,? Putin said.
Russia has been accused of using gas prices to blackmail its neighbors, such as Ukraine and Georgia, for turning pro-Western. Gazprom and Russian authorities claim that they selling gas for market prices and that they simply don?t want to subsidize the economies of their neighbors.
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Russia's President: Our Gas Prices Not Determined by Politics
"I cannot imagine a more transparent mechanism..."