Russia's dependence on fuel export threatens its national security: senior official

Russia's dependence on global fuel export may endanger its national security, the country's Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said Wednesday.

Speaking in the oil-rich western Siberian city of Khanty- Mansiisk, Patrushev said the sanctions imposed on Russia by the West are aimed at dwarfing Russia's mineral resource industry.

"The aim of the sanction is to put pressure on the development and replacement of Russian mineral resources, to diminish our basic competitive advantage, including in the most promising Arctic region," Patrushev said.

Patrushev stressed that Russia's dependence on world oil and gas markets may create hazards for the country's national security.

Meanwhile, the energy industry is facing the problem of a high- degree machinery run-out, as up to 50 percent of equipment has been worn and torn, according to Patrushev.

"It is necessary to specify measures on tangible import substitution, attract investments to renew power generation productive assets and introduce new energy saving methods," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

On Tuesday, Eugeny Stanislavov, director of Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of Economic Cooperation, also said western sanctions have been directly or indirectly affecting the global competitiveness of Russian businesses, primarily those in the energy sector.

Except for western sanctions, Russia's energy-dependent economy suffered a lot last summer as oil revenues slumped amid the nose- dive of global oil prices. Endite