President Vladimir Putin says he has obtained a commitment from Russia's largest oil producers that they will freeze production in accordance with a deal reached in February between Moscow and Saudi Arabia to support global oil prices.
Putin told the Interfax news agency that he met with managers of the Russian oil firms on March 1, and that they had agreed to keep oil production levels during 2016 at January's level.
Saudi Arabia and Russia are two of the world's biggest oil producers.
They proposed after a February 16 meeting with officials from Qatar and Venezuela that all oil-producing countries should freeze production at January levels to support global oil prices, provided that other leading oil producers agree to do so.
Putin on March 2 did not provide further details about the agreement, or whether Russia would still freeze its production if other countries refuse to do so.
