Russian President Vladimir Putin has labelled European energy policy as "economic suicide" as much of the continent tries to cut its dependency on Russian oil and gas following the invasion of Ukraine.
The European Union wants to impose a Russian oil embargo in the latest round of sanctions targeting Moscow, which is now looking to sell more to the likes of China.
"It is obvious that with the departure of Russian energy sources from Europe to other regions of the world, the possibility of increasing economic activity goes with it," Putin said on Tuesday.
"Abandoning Russian energy resources means that Europe will systematically, from a long-term perspective, become the region with the highest energy costs in the world."
He said it was clear that individual countries were so dependent on Russian oil that they could not permanently do without it.
Hungary does not support plans for the EU oil embargo on Russia, which is slowing the bloc's bid for consensus.
