MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Gazprom is a reliable partner, therefore it continues to fulfill contractual obligations for gas supplies to Europe, Russian president Vladimir Putin said during his combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference.

"Why do we supply [gas] to Europe? Gazprom is a reliable partner, it has contractual obligations, it has always fulfilled these contractual obligations and is fulfilling them now," he said.

Putin added that Russia is redirecting energy exports to the East due to the emergence of a new center of economic growth that needs oil, gas and coal. "As for the turn to the East, it did not happen due to the fact that our situation in the Ukrainian direction has worsened. No, we started these things a long time ago, the Power of Siberia gas pipeline was not built because of Ukraine, we started building it earlier. Why? Because we see a trend in the development of the world economy: new centers of economic growth are emerging, the main consumer is emerging there, and we send them [resources] there, where they buy oil, gas, and coal," the President said.

"We are thinking about further expansion of supplies to China, we are thinking about other countries as possible consumers," he added.

Putin noted that Japan, unlike European countries, has not abandoned Russian energy resources and continues to buy them.

"In the Arctic region, our Novatek company, by the way, is still developing relations with some European and Asian partners. China is also present there," he said.

"In this regard, the situation is stable and is based not on the political situation of today, but on the interest of Russia with a focus on the growing economic center of the world," the President concluded.