Kremlin Accuses Trump Of Trying To Bully Europe Into Buying US LNG

The Kremlin on July 12 rejected President Donald Trump’s description of Germany as a “captive” of Russia due to its energy reliance, saying his statement was part of a U.S. campaign to bully Europe into buying American energy supplies.

Trump told Germany at a NATO summit in Brussels on July 11 that it was wrong to support an $11 billion Baltic Sea pipeline to import even more Russian gas while being slow to meet NATO targets for defense spending.

Trump’s comments came ahead of his summit on July 16 with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, though the Kremlin said they were unlikely to have an impact on what was always going to be a difficult meeting due to the number of disagreements between the two countries.