[QUOTE=NutLoose;11162308]Gas prices are tumbling after US sends liquified gas tankers to the EU
Putin hits back! Russia ramps up pressure on EU after Biden's gas threat crumbles (msn.com)
In a televised government meeting, the Russian President said today (Wednesday) that the Nord Stream 2 undersea gas pipeline would stabilise gas prices in Europe.
His remarks appear to indicate that the US's decision to send 20 liquefied natural gas tankers to Europe was interpreted as a threat to the Kremlin .
Mr Putin also told the meeting that the second line of the pipe would soon be filled with gas.
Construction on the pipeline - which runs from Russia to Germany on the bed of the Baltic Sea - was completed in September.
However, it has laid idle while awaiting regulatory approval from Berlin and Brussels and has become a political tool in growing tensions between the West and Russia.
Earlier today, Russian state media reported that Alexander Novak, the country's Deputy Prime Minister, believed the pipeline would be given the green light in the first half of 2022.
The EU has been struggling with an energy crisis since a global shortage of natural gas earlier this year.
The economic bloc - whose largest supplier of gas is Russia - had been hampered by a reduced supply.
Mr Putin has faced accusations that he was engineering the crisis, using the monopoly on gas in Europe to drive up prices.
After the US sent its own tankers laden with liquefied natural gas, the price of gas in Europe tumbled.
EU natural gas prices extended losses for the sixth day in a row to €100 (£84.19) per megawatt-hour, the lowest in three weeks.
It is now trading roughly 45 percent below a record high of €180.27 (£151.78) reached last week.
Russia has appeared at times anxious to have the pipeline, which unlike the current supply to Europe would circumvent Ukraine, certified by the EU.
The EU's hesitancy to agree to the new pipeline comes amid tensions between Ukraine and Russia.
Today, Mr Novak said: "The project vehicle implementing the Nord Stream 2 project is acting strictly in line with European laws.
"Any demands above current laws are of political nature."
Nord Stream 2 is opposed by Washington, which believes the pipeline will make the EU even more reliant on Russian gas.
In November, the Biden administration imposed further sanctions connected to the pipeline in an effort to stop its approval.
At the time, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said America must "push back against harmful Russian activities, including in the energy sphere".