MOSCOW, July 01. /ITAR-TASS/. Someone seeks to use Europe in his interests, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
“More and more European politicians and businessmen are coming to understand that someone is simply seeking to use Europe in his interests, that it is becoming a hostage of short-sighted, ideologized approaches,” he said at a meeting with Russian ambassadors and permanent representatives.
But Russia, according to Putin, “has always valued its reputation as a reliable supplies of energy resources, has invested in the development of gas infrastructure.” “Jointly with European companies we have built a new pipeline - Nord Stream - across the Baltic Sea bottom.” He noted. “And despite all the difficulties, we will forward the South Stream project too.”
“Promoting the Eurasian integration project, we are not seeking to fence ourselves off from the rest of the world, we are ready to discuss possible establishment of free trade zones with both individual states and regional associations, first of all, with the European Union.| he stressed. “Europe is our only and most important trade-and-economic partner. We want to create new possibilities for expanding business cooperation, to open perspectives for mutual investments, to remove trade barriers. But for these ends, it is necessary to modernize the legal framework for our cooperation, to ensure stability and predictability of relations, first of all, in such strategic area of cooperation as energy.”
“Stability on the entire Eurasian market and, in the long run, sustainable development of the economies of European countries and Russia will depend on coordinated efforts that will take into account mutual interests,” Putin added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's address to ambassadors and permanent representatives. Full