At a time when energy increasingly affects the well-being of billions of people around the world, it is imperative that the world’s leaders establish a serious plan for achieving energy security. The Russian Federation has made creating such a plan that serves the entire international community’s interest a chief priority when it hosts the Group of Eight leaders in July in St Petersburg.

That is why we are deeply puzzled by recent commentary in the west that distorts Russian energy policies. The truth of the matter is that Russia has moved away from Soviet-era arrangements of subsidising energy prices to our neighbours and turned to market-based pricing mechanisms. We continue to push for co-operative and practical collaboration among nations to establish a balanced and equitable energy security system.