Katya Golubkova & Tom Balmforth

MOSCOW (Reuters), – Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Belarus hadn’t consulted him prior to raising the possibility that Russia would cut its flows to Europe. He also said that this move could harm relations between Minsk, Moscow and their key ally.

On Thursday, Alexander Lukasenko, the Belarusian president threatened to respond against any European Union sanctions placed against Minsk for a standoff at the Belarus-EU border by migrant workers. This suggested that he might halt gas transit through Belarus.

The warning temporarily lifted spot gas prices in Europe. Europe gets approximately a third its fuel supplies from Russia via the Yamal Europe pipeline, which runs through Belarus and Poland to Germany.

Gazprom, Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom (MCX) owns the Yamal-Europe section in Belarus.

Putin made his first comments publicly about Belarusian threats in an interview on state TV.

“Of course, theoretically, Lukashenko, president of the transit country, could order our gas supply to Europe to be cut. Putin stated that such a move would be in violation of our gas transit agreements and said that he hopes this does not happen.

Russia has been Belarus’s close ally for many years. It helped with everything, including cash, energy supplies, military assistance and even financial aid. But Lukashenko’s comment comes at a delicate time as Russia continues to export energy to Europe.

Analysts think that Lukashenko’s remarks on Russian gas supply have probably tested Putin’s patience.

European gas prices and, therefore, European energy bills, are increasing this year because of the pandemic recovery. This has caused a surge in demand which is forcing European customers to travel from Europe to Asia to try to get supplies.

Some European lawmakers have accused Moscow not only of sending contractual gas volumes but also for calming down market prices.

On Friday, the European Commission stated that Lukashenko’s threats would be fulfilled by him and it would cause further damage to gas suppliers.

In Saturday’s interview Putin stated that Belarus would cut off its supplies if it did so. This would cause “great damage” to Europe’s energy sector and “would not assist in developing our relations towards Belarus as a transit nation”.

Putin replied, “I will raise that with him (Lukashenko), in order to make sure this wasn’t something (he), said in heat of the moment.”

Russia began this week to expand its European storage to meet the demand for winter heating. Germany has given Russia the green light to build Nord Stream 2, which will allow Russia to add more.

Nord Stream 2 a Russian pipeline that is designed to bypass transit nations, especially Ukraine. This country has a history in gas pricing disputes with Moscow.

The Kremlin describes the pipeline as a “purely business project”, and denials that any politics were involved.