Vladimir Putin has warned Europe that Russia's energy reserves will flow to the Far East if the continent's leaders seek to punish his country for invading Georgia. The Russian prime minister travelled to Siberia to demand that work on a new pipeline to supply oil to Asia is speeded up. In an echo of the photographs released last year that showed the bare-chested leader in a series of macho hunting poses, Mr Putin posed with a rifle for the cameras as scientists tranquilised a tiger at the Ussuri reserve. The announcement on the eve of an emergency European Union summit in Brussels on Russia's occupation of Georgia put EU states on notice that Moscow is developing an alternative client base in the Far East. Mr Putin lashed out at the European summit, defending the country's incursion into Georgia. "The truth is on our side," he told Vesti-24 television.
The Russian prime minister travelled to Siberia to demand that work on a new pipeline to supply oil to Asia is speeded up.
In an echo of the photographs released last year that showed the bare-chested leader in a series of macho hunting poses, Mr Putin posed with a rifle for the cameras as scientists tranquilised a tiger at the Ussuri reserve.
The announcement on the eve of an emergency European Union summit in Brussels on Russia's occupation of Georgia put EU states on notice that Moscow is developing an alternative client base in the Far East.
Mr Putin lashed out at the European summit, defending the country's incursion into Georgia. "The truth is on our side," he told Vesti-24 television.
And what prevents the construction of the pipeline to China is that there is no buyer yet for the gas, because the Chinese refuse to commit longterm to pay the price that would make the project bankable. So Putin admonitions are of little use or significance for hte pipe. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Beware the announcement of some bellicose "NATO" policy. A sound distraction from failed domestic policies in UK and a ratings bump for McCain. I hope Putin just laughs at them. keep to the Fen Causeway
