MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. The countries that have abandoned energy resources from Russia are still buying Russian gas and oil through intermediaries and will continue to do so, speaker of Russia’s Federation Council (upper parliament house) Valentina Matviyenko said at a press conference on Wednesday.
"Anyway, those who abandoned (Russian energy resources - TASS) are still buying and will buy our oil and gas by hook or by crook, through intermediaries at exorbitant prices," she said.
Matviyenko added that now there are no prerequisites for a significant increase in global energy production.
The Speaker of the Federation Council noted that "games with limiting prices for gas and oil will not lead to anything good." According to her, they will only lead to a situation where the volume of investments in production in the world will shrink, and the volume of hydrocarbon supplies to international markets will also decrease.
"Accordingly, there will be increased guilt. They will punish their citizens, their industry," Matviyenko said.
She called the decision of the collective West to abandon Russian energy resources "a big mistake."
"They proudly say that they manage to practically move away from dependence on Russia. What kind of dependence is this? Well, you will not buy Russian gas and oil, but you will become really dependent, due to higher prices. If you receive gas and oil not from this side, but from the other side, isn't that dependence?" she said.
Matviyenko stressed that the purchase of energy resources from Russia is "not dependence," but "normal international cooperation."
"Someone trades in oil and gas, someone trades in equipment, gold, platinum. This is how international trade, international economic cooperation works," the speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation said.