"We will fulfill all the plans outlined in this area. We will not reduce them," Vladimir Putin told Wulf H. Bernotat, the CEO of Germany's E.ON energy concern, which holds a 76.09% stake in Russian wholesale power company OGK-4 and is also involved in joint gas projects.
During the meeting Bernotat requested Putin's support for the company's plans to develop the Russian energy sector and build additional power plants for connection to Russia's national grid.
Bernotat told Putin: "We have two main aims. One is to reliably supply power stations with gas and coal, and the other is to invest in the network so that plants to not work independently, but are connected to the grid."
Putin called the German company a strategic partner and said: "Many years of productive work unite us... We have been building long-term, reliable and stable relations with your company. It can be said that we are strategic partners in the full sense of the word," he said.
The premier highlighted the German company's investment in Russian energy giant Gazprom and its position on the Gazprom board of directors.
"We deal with the production and transportation of gas to other European countries together. This creates conditions for stability and reliability and even mutual control," Putin said.
The German company is involved in the Nord Stream pipeline project, which will pump gas from Siberia to Europe under the Baltic Sea, along with Russian energy giant Gazprom, Germany's BASF and Dutch gas transportation firm Gasunie.
