Russia is to increase cooperation on energy with Uzbekistan by building a gas pipeline and several hydroelectric and nuclear power stations in the country, President Vladimir Putin announced while on a state visit to Tashkent on Monday. “The area of energy is a strategic direction,” Putin said. The construction of the pipeline aims to boost Russian gas exports to 11 billion cubic metres annually from next year from 2.8 billion cubic metres currently. While Uzbekistan has its own large gas reserves, extraction and distribution equipment are obsolete, with the result that demand currently exceed…