Russia's Putin says Europe unlikely stop buying Russian gas

LAURA Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he did not expect European countries to stop buying natural gas from Russia as there is no real alternative. "Can you imagine that this will happen at the desire of our partners in Europe? I can hardly imagine this", Putin said in a response to a question during a meeting with Russian and foreign political experts. The European Union, which has imposed sanctions on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, has expressed concern that natural gas supplies from Russia that pass through Ukraine could be disrupted this winter and wants to diversify its supplies. (Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk and Lidia Kelly, Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin, Editing by Timothy Heritage)