Gazprom is holding off sending more gas through Ukraine to the EU this summer,

forcing up prices and “sending a clear sign it is waiting for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to be commissioned,” Reuters reports from Moscow. “One could see this as a strategy to push Nord Stream 2 to completion,” Nick Campbell, the director of Inspired Energy consultancy, told Reuters. Serhiy Makogon, head of Ukraine’s gas pipelines operator, said: “The Kremlin is sending a clear message: It’s no use waiting for an increase in gas supplies volume without Nord Stream 2 commissioning.”