OREANDA-NEWS. On the eve of the launch of the Nord Stream-2, Russia is close to a historical maximum in gas supplies to Europe, said the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov.

This is how he reacted to the accusations of representatives of the State Department and Naftogaz, who said that for the sake of launching the pipeline, Russia allegedly artificially created a gas shortage in the EU. On September 22, the State Department's senior adviser on energy Security, Amos Hochstein, even demanded that Russia increase gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine as soon as possible, because the EU countries do not have enough of their own reserves for the winter.

"I have no doubt that Gazprom and Gazprom specialists will be ready to explain to Mr. Hochstein the essence of what is happening, and most importantly, to explain a very simple truth: gas is first sold, then it is extracted and only then it is transited,"- Peskov said, noting that it is impossible to transport gas without selling it.

"The Russian side,"- the Kremlin representative assured,- "fulfills its obligations to European consumers 100% and even more." In addition, Peskov stressed: "As far as we know, we are now close to a historical maximum in terms of gas supplies to European buyers,"- he added.

In order to increase the volume of gas supplies, "it is necessary to increase the volume of gas purchased in Europe accordingly," Peskov recalled.