“Russia is always interested in higher prices, and the higher the better,” Igor H. Yusufov,br the Russian minister of energy during the 2001 agreement with OPEC, said in an interview.br “It was a conditional memorandum,” Vladimir S. Milov, then Russia’s deputy minister of energy, said in an interviewbr about the 2001 agreement with OPEC, the first between Russia and the Saudi-dominated oil cartel.br So Russia’s leaders set politics aside and cut a deal with Saudi Arabia: Russia agreed to join the Organizationbr of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on a production cut, with the intent of lifting global oil prices.br OPEC’s share is 1.2 million barrels per day, while the non-OPEC nations agreed to cut back by 600,000 barrels a day.