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EC made a mistake switching from long-term gas contracts to spot trading, Putin says

The Russian president explained that such a policy did not take into account the peculiarities of the gas market due to a large number of uncertainties

© Alexei Druzhinin/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/. The European Commission (EC) made a mistake when it curtailed long-term contracts and switched to gas trading on the stock exchange, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on energy sector development on Wednesday.

"The practice of our European partners has once again confirmed that they make mistakes," he said.

"We spoke with the previous line-up of the European Commission, and all of its activities were aimed at curtailing the so-called long-term contracts. It was aimed at the transition to gas exchange trading. It turns out, and today it has become absolutely obvious, that this policy was wrong," Putin concluded.

He explained that such a policy did not take into account the peculiarities of the gas market due to a large number of uncertainties.

"[As a result] consumers, in particular, fertilizer producers are losing price targets altogether. All this leads to disruptions and, as I said, to an imbalance," Putin went on.

The head of state recalled that now the price of gas in Europe had broken its all-time high.

"Today it is already heading to $2,000 per 1,000 cubic meters - more than a tenfold rise above the average price of last year," Putin concluded.

Earlier on Wednesday, it was reported that the price of gas in Europe rose to a new all-time high exceeding $1,900 per 1,000 cubic meters. Later on, in the course of the trading, the gas price dropped below $1,450 per 1,000 cubic meters.

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