Written by Katya Golubkova, Oksana Kolbzeva

MOSCOW (Reuters – Russia’s uninterrupted supply to the world market will be maintained, Vladimir Putin, Russian President, promised on Tuesday. This was after Germany halted a certification of a major gas pipeline due to Russia’s troop deployments to eastern Ukraine’s breakaway areas.

Putin declared Donetsk/Luhansk (eastern Ukraine) independent, then sent troops. However, he denied plans to invade. The United States and the European Union discussed possible sanctions.

Putin’s long, televised announcement on Monday night led to a selling of Russian assets. It also drove global oil prices to new highs since 2014.

Putin wrote remarks to a Qatari gas summit on Tuesday, stating that Russia aims to maintain uninterrupted gas supplies. This includes liquefied natural gases to world markets.

Europe imports around 40% of its natural gas from Russia. The European Commission was considering approval for the Nord Stream 2 underground gas pipeline, which links Russia to Germany.

As a result of Russia’s action in Ukraine’s eastern Ukraine, Germany, Russia’s biggest gas consumer and a crucial energy partner to Europe, put on hold the certification process for Nord Stream 2.

An EU Commission source said that the EU’s foreign ministers would meet Tuesday night to discuss a package of sanctions against Russia, which consists of four components.

According to Nikolai Shulginov, Russian energy minister Nikolai Shulginov, European partners in Nord Stream 2 may be taken to court if sanctions are imposed on the $11 billion project.

Gazprom (MCXA:) didn’t respond to a request for comment, and Nord Stream 2 consortium also declined comments.

FOCUS RUSSIAN TANKS SUPPLIES IN FOCUS LONG AFTER CRISIS

European spot gas prices rose 10% to 78.55 euro per megawatt-hour (MWh), Tuesday, due to tensions with Russia and Ukraine. But they are still well below the record of 186.25 Euros per MWh set on Dec. 21.

“Welcome into the new world in which Europeans soon would have to pay 2,000 Euros per 1,000 cubic meters!” Dmitry Medvedev (NYSE:), a Russian ex-president who is still close to Putin, stated on Tuesday.

Shulginov reaffirmed Tuesday that Europe wouldn’t be able replace large quantities of Russian gas by LNG from other places. Moscow has limited options for rerouting gas from Europe via non-connected pipelines to Asia.

Russian gas supplies have been prominently featured long before Ukraine, when there was increased demand worldwide for this fuel. It has pushed up European spot gasoline prices.

Customers relied upon stockpiles as they waited for the market to settle down. The Yamal pipeline which normally brings Russian gas to Germany via Poland was moved eastwards and sent gas back to Poland.

On Tuesday, the tenth week of eastward flows continued from Germany to Poland. Gazprom states it meets its contractual obligations, but has not added gas to spot markets.

OMV Austria (another big Gazprom customer) and a partner financial in Nord Stream 2 said Tuesday that Russian gas supply continued as before and was in compliance with contract.