The Kremlin took a swing at US President Donald Trump’s assertion that Germany was a “captive” of Russia because it relies on Russia for some of its natural gas needs. NBC News photo.
US LNG more expensive than natural gas from Russia
A representative of the Kremlin said on Wednesday that he rejected claims by the US President Donald Trump that Germany is a “captive”of Russia because of its dependence on Russia for natural gas supplies.
Dmitry Peskov said Trump’s objections were “unfair competition” and were part of an American campaign to bully Europe into buying US LNG.
“As for Germany’s dependence (on Russia) as a major gas buyer we cannot agree with this premise,” Reuters reports Peskov said on a conference call with journalists.
“Supplies of pipeline gas do not lead to dependence of one country on another but to complete mutual dependence. That is a guarantee of stability and future development.”
During the NATO summit in Brussels on Wednesday, Trump told Germany that it was wrong to support the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will transport natural gas to the European Union market from Russia, at a time when Germany has not met its NATO targets for defence spending.
The comments made by Trump came ahead of the summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline would allow Russia to bypass traditional routes through Ukraine to get its natural gas to European markets.
Currently, Washington opposes the $11 billion project. A spokesman for the US State Department told Reuters that Western firms invested in the controversial pipeline are under risk of sanctions.
Five Western firms that have invested in Nord Stream 2 include Wintershall, Uniper of Germany, Austria’s OMV, Royal Dutch Shell and Engie.
While in Brussels, US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said he had not heard any positive comments from any of his EU counterparts. He added that the Trump administration was not in favour of Nord Stream 2 because it didn’t promote diversity of supply.
“The president is pretty straightforward about what he believes and he thinks Nord Stream 2 is not in the European Union’s best interest and my bet is he’ll be more than happy to tell President Putin that straight to his face,” said Perry.
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