1 Jul 2013 18:56

Putin appeals to gas producers, consumers to avoid confrontation

MOSCOW. July 1 (Interfax) - Russia as a gas exporting country is not planning to pressure consumers and calls on them to establish partnership relations, President Vladimir Putin said.

"We are not planning to put pressure on consumers: that is counterproductive and wrong. What we want is to have our point of view heard and our position taken into account," Putin said at a press conference following the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) summit in Moscow on Monday.

On the contrary, Putin said, it is necessary "to create conditions for forming equitable partnership relations between producing countries and consuming countries, at both the global and regional level."