Pope Francis said that NATO "barking" at Russia's door may have led to Vladimir Putin's launching military operations in Ukraine, adding that he has offered to meet the Russian president in Moscow.
The independent research organisation has found that LNG and gas purchases (through pipelines) to the European Union also increased by 20% and 10% respectively.
Russian media has reported that the European Union would be temporarily increasing its gas purchases from Russia through countries which are ready to do their payments in Russian Roubles to compensate for the demand of Poland and Bulgaria.
As per a Reuters report, Maksym Marchenko, the Ukrainian governor of the Black Sea port of Odessa, said the Moskva had been hit by two Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles.