Jan Lipavsky, the Czech Foreign Minister, said yesterday that  Russian President Vladimir Putin gave Europe a great Christmas gift this past year as the ongoing gas crisis showed that alternatives exist.

Lipavsky told Reuters in an interview that diversion of liquified natural gas (LNG) cargoes to Europe after prices surged late last year amid lower supplies from Russia showed there were other options to Russian gas and supported the argument for investing in infrastructure, particularly efforts to build more LNG capacity on European shores.

"I am not saying we can only be dependent on LNG, but this is a very good example that Russia cannot afford to use gas as some fundamental economic lever, because if Europe builds sufficient mechanisms, terminals, it will diversify its energy security," Lipavsky said.

The landlocked Czech Republic consumes around 8.7 Bcm of natural gas per year, most of which comes via the transboundary Bratsva pipeline from Russia to Europe.

The West has accused Russia of withholding gas to help drive up prices and pressure EU and German regulators to approve the new Nord Stream 2 link that will double Moscow's piped export capacity via the Baltic Sea.