Putin Criticizes Europe Over Energy Assets

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-eur/2006/jun/02/060207750.html

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that European demands for access to Russian energy assets were unfair.

"We assess that as a way to force us to make unilateral steps to satisfy our partners but not fully taking into account Russian economic interests," Putin said, adding that Russia should get a share in European energy assets in return. "There will be no unilateral moves."

Russia's state-controlled natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom has complete control of gas exports and so faces no competition from independent producers. The European Union has pressured Russia to offer European companies broader access to gas fields and export pipelines to reduce Gazprom's ability to charge monopolist rents on gas transported from Russia and the former Soviet Union.

"In fact, our friends in Europe and other states are asking us to let them into the heart of our economy," Putin told a group of media executives from the Group of Eight nations at his residence outside Moscow. "But then you should also let us into the most important sectors of your economies."

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