Putin Dismisses Accusations That Russia Is Weaponizing Natural Gas

Vladimir Putin has dismissed claims that Russia is weaponizing its supplies of natural gas to speed up Germany’s approval of the completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline and to destabilize European energy prices. The Russian president has described the accusations as “politically motivated blather with nothing to support it”. He believes that European governments are looking to blame Russia for the poor energy planning and worldwide shortfalls in supply, which he considers the primary factors in the “hysteria” engulfing European…