MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that his country was still among the world’s top oil producers, despite what he called “unfair” anti-competitive practices used against it.
Addressing a conference on Russian energy in Moscow, Putin said European countries had hurt their own economies by cutting sales of Russian gas and criticised Western restrictions on exporting equipment to Russia.
Putin did not mention US pressure on China and India to stop buying oil and gas from Russia.
“Russia maintains its position as one of the leading oil producers, despite the use of unfair competition mechanisms against us,” Putin said.
“We account for approximately 10 percent of global production and expect that by the end of the year, our country will have produced 510 million tonnes of oil,” he added.
US President Donald Trump has been pressuring India and China to stop buying oil and gas from Russia in an attempt to curb the revenues Moscow uses to pursue its war in Ukraine.
Russia depends on sales of oil and gas to fund its state coffers.
Trump said Wednesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised him New Delhi would stop buying Russian oil, but India has not confirmed this.
China on Thursday defended its purchases of Russian oil as “legitimate” and criticised what it called Washington’s “unilateral bullying”.
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