Europe refused to buy Russian energy, not ‘evil Russia’ stopped supplies — Putin

ST. PETERSBURG, June 4. /TASS/. It wasn't "evil Russia" that stopped supplying energy to Europe, but European countries that refused to buy it, hoping that Russia would collapse, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said at a TASS-organized meeting with the heads of leading global news agencies.

"I was surprised to hear that Russia, such an evil Russia, stopped supplying energy to Europe. We didn't stop. Europe simply refused to buy it, hoping that everything would collapse here. But we've already seen that nothing will collapse. They have realized this is the wrong direction. They could have changed it, but no, they have already made so many statements that it's difficult to change this position," the President said.