Putin pointed to the lack of US-EU alliance on the energy issue

TheUnited States is not behaving like an ally of Europe in the issue of energy relations. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, December 4, speaking at the plenary session of the VTB forum "Russia Calling!".

"This year, the growth of the eurozone economy, according to the calculations of our experts and international ones, will be somewhere around 1%. Russia's economic growth last year was 3.6%, this year it will be about 3.9%, and maybe 4%," he said.

The head of state pointed to Washington's unfriendly actions towards Europe, prohibiting its use of Russian energy resources and at the same time creating favorable conditions for European investments in the American economy.

The Russian leader emphasized that "now everything from the East is better than from the West." He noted the currently more favorable conditions for the German economy in Russia than in the West.

"But our doors are always open, we have always had very good relations with Germany for decades, we understood each other very well," Putin said.

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Earlier, on October 25, the report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that the fall in productivity has affected all sectors of the European economy. It was specified that the situation is complicated by problems of energy security, economic fragmentation, aging population and climate change.

Before that, on October 13, the European Central Bank confirmed its intentions to support the economy. The Governing Council decided to reduce the prime rate from 4.25 to 3.65%, and on deposits and loans - to 3.5 and 3.9%, respectively. At the same time, at the September meeting, the regulator did not change the forecast of annual inflation in the eurozone countries: it remained at the level of 2.5%.