Russia to cut energy supplies to countries imposing price caps: Putin

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Russia will stick to common sense and only supply energy to countries that have not introduced price caps on energy prices and will stop energy exports to countries with price caps, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

"Russia will not act in a manner that goes against common sense by paying for someone else's well-being at its own expense. We will not supply energy resources to those countries that will limit their prices," Putin told the Russian Energy Week.

Putin also highlighted that Brussels was making the situation worse by deciding to impose price caps on Russian oil.

"Suppose, as I already said, the notorious cap on oil prices is introduced. Who will guarantee that the same cap will not be set in other sectors of the economy?" Putin said, further backing his argument that Russia should cut energy supplies to the countries in question.

After months of debate, the EU reached an agreement to impose a price cap on Russian oil sales to third countries in an attempt to block Moscow's use of EU-registered vessels for its oil exports, all while excluding pipeline deliveries from the 8th round of sanctions on Russia, Politico Europe reported last week.

Putin said a day later that Russia will stop supplying oil and gas to countries that impose price caps. He stated that Russia will honor its contractual responsibilities and hoped that other countries would follow suit.

OPEC+ took decision to balance energy market

The decision taken by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to reduce the member states' oil output was aimed at balancing the global energy market, Putin highlighted, noting that the organization's coordination will continue for market predictability.

OPEC+'s member states voted last Wednesday on cutting their production of oil and agreed to reduce their oil production by 2 million barrels a day in light of the world's surging energy crisis.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir denied all allegations that OPEC+'s decision was directed at the US and stated that its aim was to stabilize the global market amid a slowing economy.

Putin also cast the blame on the EU's spot pricing mechanism for further driving the European economy into the ground, saying it would bring Europe losses of some $291.3 billion.

"According to expert estimates, in the current year alone, the spot gas pricing mechanism will bring losses to Europe in the amount of more than 300 billion euros, or about 2% of the eurozone's GDP. This could have been avoided if long-term oil-pegged contracts had been used," Putin stressed.

Nord Stream accidents act of international terrorism

The Russian president also touched on the issue of the attacks that targeted the Russian Nord Stream natural gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, saying the attacks on the infrastructure projected were acts of international terrorism.

On September 26, unprecedented damage to three pipelines of Nord Stream 1 and 2 was discovered. Two explosions were observed by Swedish seismologists along the pipelines.

Investigators from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) later started a criminal investigation into the blasts as an act of international terrorism. It is currently impossible to figure out how long it will take to restore the pipelines to operational capacity.

"There is no doubt that this is an act of international terrorism, the purpose of which is to undermine the energy security of the entire continent," Putin told the Russian Energy Week.

Putin previously accused the West of being behind the damage to the Nord Stream pipelines. He said it had already "practically begun to destroy shared European energy infrastructure," stressing that "it is obvious to all who is profiting from this."

He also told the Russian Energy Week that some participants in the energy market are trying to undermine the infrastructure of competitors.

Competitors are "forcing" Europeans to buy energy for higher prices when talking about accidents at the Nord Stream network, Putin explained.