Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to put pressure on Europe through gas distribution. The reasons are many - from the sanctions that are constantly imposed on Russia to the situation around Nord Stream 2.

With the completion of construction work on the Russian power pipeline, critics now say the Kremlin is artificially raising gas prices in a bid to speed up the lengthy certification process and make the pipeline operational.

Russia has been facing accusations for weeks of deliberately failing to meet Europe's growing gas demand., which led to a sharp rise in prices and alarmingly low levels of storage across the continent.

Many analysts believe that Moscow's goal is to push for the need for Nord Stream 2 in order to circumvent many legal and bureaucratic delays that still prevent the pipeline from delivering gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea.
That could delay the pipeline for months and possibly even more than a year, reports atlanticcouncil.org.

From the very beginning, the project Nord Stream 2 met with fierce opposition from both sides of the Atlantic. The European Parliament has voted against the pipeline, while Central European countries such as Poland fear it will strengthen Russian control over regional energy markets and increase Putin's ability to blackmail its neighbors.

Many Ukrainians see the pipeline as an economically unjustified geopolitical weapon aimed directly at their country. They claim that Nord Stream 2's goal is to end Moscow's dependence on Ukraine's transit gas system, potentially paving the way for greater escalation.

At the moment, it is not appropriate for Germany to enter into a conflict with Moscow, neither because of Nord Stream 2, nor because they are waiting for the parliamentary elections.

Yuri Vitrenko, chief executive of Ukrainian energy giant Naftogaz, said there was no doubt that the current gas shortage was a deliberate ploy by Moscow to initiate sanctions from both Germany and the United States.

"What Russia is doing at the moment is deliberately denying gas supplies to Europe. Moscow is suspending gas supplies to force Europe to accept Nord Stream 2 and reaffirm it before the US Congress imposes additional sanctions. Russian actions are a symbol of gas armaments. "Anyone who refuses to acknowledge what Moscow is doing, especially when it does so openly, is sending a dangerous message to the Russians that they can use gas to blackmail Europe and get out of it," he said.

However, at present, It is not appropriate for Germany to enter into a conflict with Moscow over Nord Stream 2, as parliamentary elections and the election of a new government await

Many also believe that the question of whether Russia waited its five minutes and decided to take revenge on the European Union over the numerous sanctions imposed on it over the past years, which have only increased, is justified.

The latest situation in the series is when Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned and then treated in Germany. When he returned to Russia, he was immediately arrested and sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Representatives of the EU and the US also reacted to this and were not in favor of Russia at all.