MOSCOW, Oct 29 — Russia’s former President, Dmitry Medvedev, was quoted as saying today that cooperation with Europe in energy matters was frozen or pointless as European countries had fallen on hard times and had poor growth prospects.

"Europe has castrated itself in bloody fashion and without anaesthesia by walking away from energy cooperation with our country,” Russian news agencies quoted Medvedev, now Deputy Secretary of the Security Council, as saying on social media. "This cooperation is either spoiled or frozen for some time.”

Medvedev, president from 2008 to 2012, has positioned himself as one of Russia’s most vocal hardliners. — Reuters