Putin Calls for Development of Alternative Energy Sources

Jul 04 - Daily News Bulletin; Moscow

The government must invest more in developing alternative energy sources, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"We can and must demand that the government increase allocations to the development of alternative power engineering," Putin told the Civil G8 - 2006 forum in Moscow on Tuesday.

However, he described the proposal by a member of an environmental protection organization to introduce a progressive tax on oil extraction to be spent on developing alternative power engineering and environmental protection programs as "disputable".

"Concerning the compensatory oil extraction tax, levying heavier taxes is not always the best solution. Even I cannot be absolutely sure that this money will go to these purposes," he said.