ISTANBUL 

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused “certain Western elites” of artificially disrupting the global energy system.

Speaking at the plenary session of the 8th Russian Energy Week international forum in Moscow, Putin expressed Russia’s perspective on challenges facing the global and Russian fuel and energy sectors, one of which he said is the restructuring of global energy relations.

Putin described it to be a “natural and objective process” in many ways amid the emergence of new centers of economic growth and an increase in energy consumption in those centers.

“At the same time, we are also witnessing an artificial disruption of the energy system, driven by the aggressive and assertive actions of certain Western elites,” said Putin.

He said many European countries have refused to purchase Russian energy supplies “under political pressure,” the repercussions of which, he argued, are evident within the EU, including through a “decline in industrial output, rising prices due to more expensive imported oil and gas, and a reduction in the competitiveness of both European goods and the broader economy.”

The Russian president said energy supply chains are undergoing a transformation, with logistics increasingly shifting toward the Global South, namely in the direction of countries in the Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America regions.

“This shift involves more reliable routes, the development of new hubs and ports designed to meet both current and future demands of energy consumers,” he said.

Putin also said Russia maintains its position as a leading oil producer “despite the mechanisms of unfair competition” used against it, expressing that Moscow accounts for about 10% of global oil production and expects to produce 510 million tons of oil this year.

He went on to highlight Russia’s energy balance as “one of the greenest in the world,” saying 87% of the country’s energy production has a low or zero carbon footprint.

“Russia is the only country in the world with competencies across the entire chain of nuclear generation,” he said, noting that it is involved in the construction of nuclear power plants in Bangladesh, Egypt and Türkiye.

“We intend to further develop our cooperation in the nuclear industry with Global South countries and within BRICS. We are working very actively in this sphere,” he said, adding that experts believe nuclear energy will become a key pillar of the future global energy balance, and that the world's nuclear power capacity will almost double by 2050.