Russian President Vows To Deliever Gas To Europe

Russia will fulfill all its responsibilities of delivering natural gas to Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday. 



"Russia will never be a reason for crisis. We will, carefully and timely, carry out all our responsibilities of delivering natural gas to Europe," Putin said.



He was speaking at an event organized by an international think-tank Valdai in Sochi, Russia. 



The Russian president said he hoped for a positive outcome of the natural gas talks between Russia, Ukraine and the EU in Brussels next week. 



"If that would be the case, then there won't be any problems. But, if there is no agreement, then there can be the risk of unauthorized use of our transit pipelines. This might create a crisis, and we don't want that," he added. 



Putin said the most important topic now was stopping the Ukraine conflict. 



 



Sanctions against Russia



 



Putin said the U.S. had "shot itself on the foot" by imposing sanctions on Russia. 



He said the U.S. welfare was highly dependent on investors, foreign dollar billionaires, and American bonds. He claimed the trust for the U.S. had now been shaken, and many countries were beginning to avoid the U.S. dollar and opting for alternative currencies. 



Putin stressed that western countries always paid a heavier price to eliminate the risks they themselves created. "They supported extremist groups in Afghanistan during the Cold War against the Soviet Union, who later turned against them as Al Qaeda and Taliban," he said.



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