PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin said Russia had no plans to sell gold to raise funds to help victims of floods in Siberia’s Yakutiya region. Russian news agencies on Thursday quoted Putin as saying he intended to sign a decree on gold and diamond sales if a clear scheme was presented to him ”to help people now on the streets.” But Putin told a news conference in the Armenian capital Yerevan, where he is attending a CIS security summit, ”You misunderstood me. I didn’t say that Russia intends to sell gold. I reacted positively to a proposal on the possibility of a mutual settlement of debt on a so-called gold loan which Yakutiya took from Russian authorities,” he said. – Reuters