BRUSSELS' DECISIONS LED TO OVERPAYMENT FOR GAS IMPORTS

MOSCOW, NOVEMBER 14 /SRNA/ - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged that the EU had paid an additional 100 billion euros for gas imports in 2026, said Dmitry Birichevsky, Director of the Department for Economic Cooperation at the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"Our country has the world's largest natural gas reserves and is the second-largest producer. Can a producer of that scale be isolated while gas consumption is growing? I think the question answers itself," Birichevsky told TASS.

He said that Russia is a major player in the global energy market and a reliable and responsible supplier of natural gas.

He stressed that the EU continues to purchase energy resources from Russia, albeit in smaller quantities, and has paid 320 billion US dollars for these supplies since 2022.