Russia has no intention of limiting oil and gas exports to Europe, but rather it will "diversify" them, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Sunday in an interview ahead of an emergency E.U. summit on Georgia.
Speaking to Russian television, the still-powerful former president said: "We have no intention of limiting (energy exports) in any way; we will abide strictly by our contractual obligations.
"But we are going to enlarge and diversify our export possibilities for these products which are so essential to the global economy," he said, according to excerpts of the interview carried by the Interfax news agency.
Russia supplies a quarter of the E.U.'s natural gas needs, as well as a part of its oil requirements.
Earlier Sunday, also in an interview with Russian television, President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow was ready to retaliate against sanctions in the event that any are agreed by E.U. leaders Monday in Brussels.
Together with the U.S., the E.U. has condemned Russia's military surge into Georgia earlier this month and its decision to recognize two Georgian separatist regions as independent states.
The French E.U. presidency has all-but ruled out sanctions, but leaders are still debating the response that could include measures to reduce Europe's dependency on Russian oil and gas.