Russia's financial aid for Europe not linked to energy issues

Russia's decision to help the eurozone states tackle the debt crisis has no link to any energy issues, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday. "It goes without saying, that we won't connect it to either energy issues, nor anything else in line with this international organization [the IMF]...We hope that if such states as Russia and China are actively involved in the global effort to improve the situation, it will influence our status in the IMF," Putin said. On October 31, Presidential Economic Aide Arkady Dvorkovich said Russia was ready to provide $10 billion financial aid to the eurozone states through the IMF. The economic problems of debt-laden Greece and other EU countries strongly hit the eurozone this year with expectations of Greece's default depressing global equity markets.