BISHKEK, December 9. /TASS/. The efforts to cap oil prices will not harm Russia, President Vladimir Putin told reporters on Friday.
"The proposed cap corresponds to the prices at which we sell [oil] today. In this sense, this decision does not affect us in any way. To be honest, it doesn’t matter to us. We also make discounts for many partners. We all converge approximately at this figure. Therefore, we will not have losses under any circumstances," Putin said.
As the President noted, the price cap for Russian oil introduced by Western countries will eventually affect the entire world market.
"This applies to all producers. Why? Because if someone ever agrees that the consumer will determine the price, then this will lead to the collapse of the industry itself. Because the consumer will always insist that the price should be lower. The industry is already underinvested, underfunded. If we listen only to consumers, then this investment will shrink to zero and at some stage this will lead to a catastrophic surge in prices and to the collapse of world energy," Putin said.
According to the Russian leader, "this is a stupid proposal, ill-conceived and uncalculated." He called the introduction of a price cap a harmful decision for world energy markets. At the same time, Putin dismissed the possibility that the price cap would cause problems for the Russian budget.
"We are selling [oil] at these prices anyway now. So, don’t worry about the budget. But I repeat once again. It would be stupid for everyone to follow some non-market, harmful decision. And for consumers as well because they should realize: if they insist on prices that are comfortable to them, even if they achieve this and prices go down, investments will be reduced to zero, and eventually prices will skyrocket and hit them. Hit those who offer such solutions," Putin said.