Putin: Russia has to switch to alternative energy sources gradually

MOSCOW, Oct 5 (PRIME) -- Europe is suffering from hysteria and turmoil on the hydrocarbons market, and Russia has to switch to alternative energy sources in a smooth manner, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday at a government meeting.

“You see what is happening in Europe, there are hysteria and a mess on the markets. Why is that happening? Because nobody is serious about that, someone speculates on the problems of climate change, someone underestimates something, and other people start reducing investment in the producing industries. There should have been a gradual switch, a smooth one. Our country has absolutely all the opportunities necessary to avoid that,” he said.

Condition of the European energy market is a consequence of imbalanced decisions and imbalanced development, he said.

Russia has to speed up construction of nuclear power plants and hydropower plants.

“The share of power produced by the nuclear power plants, hydropower plants, wind power plants, and solar plants in our country exceeds 37%, and we obviously have to use these competitive technological advantages, we have to ramp up implementation of projects in the nuclear power sphere, we should develop small-capacity hydropower plants. The world is discussing possibilities of high and low tides now, and we definitely have something to work on, we have competitive advantages,” Putin said.

At the same time, reducing the negative impact on climate should not be a serious burden for businesses and people. All the situations should become new points of growth and technological development for the Russian economy, he said.

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