This may contain adverts from our firm if 3rd parties on our understanding. It comes after European gas prices have soared to record highs and left the bloc in the face of a gas crisis. Prices soared when Russia decided to shut down the flow of gas reaching European countries following a deal for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Putin struck a deal to see the new pipeline transit gas from Poland to Russia through the Baltic Sea, bypassing Russia and Ukraine. M. Putin, however, ordered a tightening of supplies as the pipeline awaits approval from German regulators to prevent EU rules from being applied to the system and to speed up the pipeline approval process.
Gas prices across Europe have now decreased as supplies decrease and the continent prepares for a cold winter where even more pressure will be put on supplies. However, now the state-owned Russian gas company Gazprom has claimed that it doesn't intend to even send more gas to Ukraine next month via pipelines through Ukraine. Instead, it send only limited supplies through Poland. The U-turn comes after Mr Putin said in an exclusive Energy Week panel earlier this month that he was ready to meet contractual supply obligations and discuss additional actions and cooperation with its European partners.
He also pointed out that so far in 2017 Russia has been increasing its gas supplies to Europe by 15. President Putin has fiercely denied the claims that Russia is using gas as a geopolitical weapon in Russia. He said: Even during the hardest parts of the Cold War, Russia regularly fulfilled its contractual obligations and supplies gas to Europe. But Mr Putin s latest has again shown Putin s tight control over the gas market despite the Kremlin's agreement to help curb prices. Putin outsmarted the UK after offering to rescue Britain from gaz crisis.