MOSCOW, June 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday he was surprised about neighboring nations' criticism of Russia's decision to charge market prices for energy supplies.
Controversy has surrounded a decision made by Russian energy giant Gazprom this year to seek market energy prices for supplies to some former Soviet republics, such as Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and South Caucasus nations as part of a plan to bring prices for natural gas closer to the European level of about $250 per 1,000 cubic meters.
"It is difficult to understand why a natural and transparent decision to introduce market energy prices for some our neighbors has caused such hysterical, nervous reaction," Putin told a conference in Russia's Foreign Ministry.
In particular, Ukraine, with whom Russia had a bitter spat over prices for natural gas at the start of the year and has reacted angrily to Russia's proposals and prime minister-designate Yulia Tymoshenko has suggested that she will seek a revision of deals with Moscow.
"All agreements on gas supplies to Ukraine today call for further profound revision, and for construction in a friendly mode of new contractual relations with Russia and Turkmenistan," she said last week.
The president suggested that Russia should have explained its energy plans in advance.
"Perhaps, this decision could have and must have been explained in advance," the president said, adding this is what Russia was doing now.
Putin also said that the economic aspect of the move had come under no fire, which he said prompted a conclusion that neighbors' criticism was exclusively politicized.
"The conclusion is obvious: the flood of criticism of purely economic decisions was simply political," Putin said.
