RIA Novosti reported that Mr Vladimir Putin has proposed increasing natural gas deliveries to Lithuania.

Mr Putin told Lithuanian President Mr Dalia Grybauskaite on the sidelines of the Baltic Sea Action Summit in Helsinki said "We are ready to consider all demands on good terms."

He said that "We have grounds to believe that Lithuania's natural gas demands will at least double following the shutdown of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant."

Mr Grybauskaite said Lithuania was "interested" in cooperation.

The Ignalina NPP first unit was closed in December 2004 and the plant was completely shut down in late 2009 as part of an agreement on the Baltic state's accession to the EU, which took place in May 2004.

The Ignalina plant is of a similar design to the power plant that exploded in 1986 in Chernobyl, Ukraine. The Soviet-era Ignalina power station provided about 70% of Lithuania's electricity.

(Sourced from RIA Novosti)