FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEI LAVROV: We have carried out your instruction to send the letter to the leaders of European countries that receive Russian gas via Ukrainian territory. Our ambassadors in the countries concerned delivered the letters to their intended recipients yesterday. Everyone has given the letter their serious attention and promised to promptly give it their consideration and draft their response. We hope the response will be constructive. We have received only a preliminary reaction from Europe so far, but we have already heard from Washington, where an official State Department spokesperson said that Russia should not politicise gas affairs with Ukraine, should let the market decide prices, and called the arguments that we set out for our European partners “gas blackmail.”

VLADIMIR PUTIN: This is somewhat curious. I say this first of all because it is not the proper thing to read others’ letters. I did not write to Washington after all, but to our gas customers in Europe. We are already used to the fact that our American friends eavesdrop on everyone, but it is really not the done thing to sneak a look at others’ correspondence.