Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on Wednesday that Russia is not using energy as a "weapon", an utter contrasting statement to Russia stopping natural gas deliveries via a key pipeline to Europe, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporters.
He stated that allegations that Moscow is stopping energy supply as a "weapon" are nonsense and added that the country continues fuel supplies as per requests.
Talking to the Eastern Economic Forum in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, "They say that Russia uses energy as a weapon. More nonsense! What weapon do we use? We supply as much as required according to requests," AFP quoted.
On Friday, Russia's one of the top gas producers, Gazprom, informed that the Nord Stream pipeline would be kept shut because of the reopening at the weekend after three days of maintenance. And the Kremlin said that the return of a Siemens turbine, which had been sent for repairs in Canada, is blocked due to sanctions.
Putin, on Wednesday, asked to give Moscow and said that Nord Stream would be turned on the next day.
"We are ready to do this tomorrow, just need to press a button. But we were not the ones who introduced sanctions," AFP quotes Putin.
Further, speaking about the possibility of a price cap on Russian natural gas, the president said it was stupidity and a non-market solution with zero prospects. He said that if European countries want to end their competitive advantages, it is up to them. He said that Russia is ready to cooperate with any country.
After economic sanctions mounted over Kremlin following its invasion of Ukraine, it stopped or reduced supplies to various European nations and energy prices soared. Consequently, the European Union accused Moscow of using energy to blackmail.