Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said he is not disturbed by reports on shale gas deposits in the United States and sees the news as a stimulus for the modernization of the Russian economy.
Gas extraction from shale deposits, seen as an alternative to conventional gas production, is still considered commercially unprofitable by energy experts.
Earlier this month, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported that Poland could become the largest gas supplier for Europe following the discovery of large reserves of shale in the Central European country.
"The fact that our American partners have found new gas capacities, perhaps, is not bad," Medvedev said at the Brookings Institution in Washington after a nuclear security summit.
"It will lead us to be more attentive to our capabilities," the president added.
The Russian president's ambitious plan to modernize the country's economy is one of the main policies of his two years in power.
In an interview with the Russia Today news channel aired today, Medvedev said that some Russian officials might oppose modernization, adding that the process always involves a certain amount of conflict.
"There are always officials who will oppose things, they're in any society during any kind of changes," Medvedev said in an interview with the channel's editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan. "Not because they're bad, it's because there can be a conservative mentality."
"People get used to living within certain parameters, so it's necessary to convince some people - and to confront others," the president continued.
"High oil and gas prices are not bad also," Medvedev said. "We are not going to lower them."
Medvedev also said that the global recession had prompted him to launch Russia on a course on technological modernization.
WASHINGTON, April 14 (RIA Novosti)
