Putin outplayed the EU by agreeing to increase natural gas supplies to China

 Russia is on the verge of concluding a deal with China to build the Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline. The project will allow the head of state of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to beat the European Union, which has not yet certified Nord Stream 2, commented in the editorial office of the British newspaper The Daily Express.

The Power of Siberia-2 pipeline has an export capacity of up to 50 billion cubic meters a year, and analysts say this will put pressure on Europe. It will be forced to be more accommodating with Moscow in order to have access to cheaper natural gas.

 On December 27, Gazprom announced that daily gas supplies to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline had reached a record high. Earlier, the representative of the energy giant in Beijing Victor Kovtun announced that the company is negotiating with China for the supply of liquefied helium and hydrocarbon gas. According to him, issues in a number of "promising areas" were discussed during meetings of Gazprom's joint coordination committees with China's CNPC and CNOOC.

 On December 18, Nikkei Asia reported, citing a source, that Moscow and Beijing had also discussed the Power of Siberia-2 project, which began on May 18 last year. It was clarified that the parties have not yet agreed on the price of the offered fuel supplies. According to the source, the launch of the pipeline will allow Russia to remove its "dependence on the European market".

The first line of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline, through which Russia supplies gas to China, came into operation in December 2019. The gas is transported from the gas production centers in Irkutsk and Yakutsk through the Irkutsk, Amur and Yakutia regions, including Russia. consumers in the Far East.