"The stated goal of the EU is to reduce dependence on the supply of raw materials from Russia. However, current data on the import of Gazprom show that the opposite is happening, "writes Eduard Steiner in the pages of the German Die Welt.

According to recently published data on the export of the gas concern Gazprom, in 2017 the EU imported the maximum amount of Russian gas for all time. The volume of deliveries was 8.1% more than in 2016. The largest buyer of Russian gas was and remains Germany - the import of Russian gas in 2017 here also broke the record, the newspaper reports..

The fact that Russia, despite all the tension in relations with Brussels, supplies Europe with record volumes of gas is connected not only with the cold winter last year. The prices of the Kremlin-controlled concern have become more flexible in countries associated with the planned construction of the Turkish Stream and Nord Stream-2 gas pipelines, Dmitry Marinchenko, analyst and director of the natural resources and commodities group of the Fitch rating agency.

In fact, these countries in 2017 bought gas most from Gazprom, according to an article.

At the same time, Brussels not only wants to prevent the construction of new Russian gas pipelines, but also to preserve the transit of gas through Ukraine. Transit duties are an important source of income for Ukraine. Especially against the construction of the "Nord Stream-2" are Poland and the Baltic countries. So, in the first three quarters of 2017, Poland reduced the volume of imports of Russian gas and for the first time purchased liquefied natural gas from the US, the report said..

"And here the circle closes. After all, the United States also objects to the "Northern Stream-2" and even threatens the project participants with possible sanctions, "says the author of the publication Eduard Steiner. "The more amusing is the fact that the first tanker with liquefied gas from Russia is now on its way to the US, as a snowstorm led to a glaring rise in prices on the East Coast. Russia has long dreamed of putting large volumes of gas in advance in the United States, "writes the journalist.

True, gas is supplied to America not by Gazprom, but by the second largest in Russia gas concern Novatek,. "Another curiosity: Novatek is on the US sanctions list, while the main shareholder Gennady Timchenko is in the nearest circle of Putin," the journalist continues..

"Curiosity number three: the second tanker from Yamal sent to Spain. At the same time local terminals for the reception of the liquefied natural year were installed there in order to reduce dependence on Russian gas, "the journalist concludes..