DEAUVILLE, France, June 10 (Reuters) - Russia's Gazprom GAZP.MM on Tuesday criticised media depictions of its European investments as being politically motivated and EU efforts to diversify its gas supplies.
“Why should we invest money to create the possibility to shut off the gas supply,” Alexander Medvedev, deputy CEO and head of Gazprom’s export unit, told reporters at a press conference in the resort town of Deauville in northern France.
Gazprom sells the EU around a quarter of its gas and wishes to raise this to around a third. Brussels has sought to diversify supplies to avoid over reliance on Russia and improve the security of energy supplies.
“If you diversify suppliers, it will not solve the problem,” Medvedev said.
(Reporting by Tom Bergin; editing by Sue Thomas)
tom.bergin@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: tom.bergin.reuters.com@reuters.net
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