NOVO-OGARYOVO, June 2 ??“ Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday defended the January decision to hike by 90% prices of natural gas supplied to Ukraine as the need to stop subsidies to the former ally.

"Our Western friends very actively supported the Orange events in Ukraine, and we can perfectly see what has been happening there all this time," Putin said at a meeting with the heads of the leading news agencies from the G8 countries on Friday.