Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has never refused to supply energy resources to Europe, arguing that European countries themselves chose to reduce imports from Russia.

Axar.az reports, citing Vesti, that Putin made the remarks in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin.

“We did not ban anything. By the way, at the initial stage, Russia was also accused of prohibiting supplies and refusing to provide relatively cheap raw materials such as oil, gas, coal and uranium. We have never refused anyone! It was they who refused, and they are still making plans to abandon what they continue to receive from Russia,” Putin said.