Energy Minister Novak urges Brussels not to politicize Gazprom investigation
YEKATERINBURG. June 4 (Interfax) - Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak urged the European Commission not to politicize its antitrust investigation into Gazprom.
"We believe that the European Commission, which launched these proceedings, should operate in strict accordance with the powers vested in it; not to politicize this process, since in our view, at present, there are certain aspects connected with issues that have nothing to do with Gazprom operations or its message in Europe," he said.
"We are currently monitoring this process. Gazprom is working with the European Commission. I believe that this is a sort of process in progress that must be perfectly procedural," he said.
The European Commission began antitrust proceedings against Gazprom last fall. It is investigating three suspected anti-competitive practices: "First, Gazprom may have divided gas markets by hindering the free flow of gas across Member States. Second, Gazprom may have prevented the diversification of supply of gas. Finally, Gazprom may have imposed unfair prices on its customers by linking the price of gas to oil prices," the European Commission said in a press release last September.
