Biden humiliated by Putin as he ‘keeps falling into his traps’ and ‘now has to play ball’

While tensions between Russia and the US have soared to near Cold War levels over a feared invasion of Ukraine, Mr Putin seems to be outsmarting Mr Biden in another standoff too. By scrapping America’s KeystoneXL Pipeline and imposing “harsh” regulations on its gas industry, the US President has been accused of “letting Europe become more dependent on Russian gas”. KeystoneXL was a planned 1,179-mile (1,897km) pipeline running from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska.

It was intended to join an existing pipe and could carry 830,000 barrels of oil each day.

But Mr Biden scrapped the project on his first day in office, in a move that Brandon Weichert, author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, claims led to Europe’s rising prices and increasing dependence on Russian gas.

The bloc already depends on Russia for 40 percent of its gas supplies.

Mr Weichert told Express.co.uk: “The Biden Administration’s decision to terminate the KeystoneXL Pipeline and impose some of the harshest regulations imaginable has helped to increase the overall global cost of energy (benefiting producers like Russia).”

He said that this “forced Europe to become even more dependent on Russian natural gas since North American supplies are limited and more expensive now”.

In fact, Mr Putin has been accused of deliberately slashing gas deliveries travelling into the EU through its vast network of pipelines.

The move has seen EU prices soar to record highs and sparked fears of an energy crisis across the bloc.

But Mr Weichert said that the US has indirectly made this worse, and has allowed Mr Putin’s grip to get tighter.

As Ukraine is a key transit country for Russia’s gas to reach the EU, there are fears gas could get cut amid the conflict.

The US has called on companies to ramp up supplies of liquified natural gas to ship to Europe from places the Asia and the Middle East.

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But the Biden Administration has called on Nord Stream 2, the pipeline that will transit gas from Russia to Germany once it gets approved, to be scrapped.

Washington has claimed this can be used as leverage against Russia and could discourage an invasion as Moscow appears eager for the pipeline to get up and running.

And some suspect Mr Putin had deliberately slashed gas deliveries to Europe to encourage regulators to certify the pipeline’s approval.

The Kremlin argues that the pipeline would be able to double volumes of gas travelling into Europe and would ease surging prices.

But its critics say it will only gift Mr Putin with more control over Europe’s energy.