TOMSK, Western Siberia, April 25 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia should strengthen ties with countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and lashed out at Western approaches to energy security.
Speaking ahead of a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the West Siberian oil city of Tomsk, Putin accused Western countries of trying to block access to markets there.
"Unfortunately, we very often run into unfair competitive practices on global markets. Despite huge demand for energy, we [Russia] are being limited under all kinds of pretexts in the north, south and the west," Putin said.
He said the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline should be made a priority as Russia looks to supply energy-hungry countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and particularly China.
"We should look for sellers' markets and integrate into global development processes, considering that Asia-Pacific region countries are developing extremely rapidly, and they need cooperation with us," Putin said.
