Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Russia plans to buy gas from abroad to stabilize the domestic market, a rare step for the country that imported big volumes of energy resources only in the 1990s after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow, Peskov said Moscow was holding talks on possible fuel imports with several countries.
"If agreements are reached on imports at acceptable prices, then it will happen. This will be another step towards stabilizing the market and reducing the surge in demand," he said.
The official emphasized that a package of measures to stabilize the fuel market was being discussed by a government commission led by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak following a meeting chaired by President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.
He declined to comment on media reports that some Russian refineries had been allowed to produce fuel meeting Euro-5 specifications using Euro-3 standards, and that authorities were considering lowering fuel quality requirements further to Euro-2.
Peskov referred questions about the measures under discussion to the government, saying Novak was overseeing the issue on a daily basis.
Asked which countries Russia was in contact with regarding potential fuel imports, Peskov declined to provide details. "For understandable reasons, we will not talk about that," he said.
Large-scale gasoline imports into Russia were last seen in the 1990s, when the country imported more than 2 million metric tons annually to address domestic shortages, according to UN data. In the following decade, imports became sporadic, minor and were largely limited to premium-grade gasoline.
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