MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. Russia can support Asian countries having strong dependence on imports from Qatar by its potential termination of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to Europe, Sergey Kaufman from Finam told TASS.

President Vladimir Putin said earlier that Russia, considering the intent of the European Union to completely reject Russian gas, may initiate its withdrawal from the European market earlier and redirect supplies to more interested buyers.

This is more likely to refer to redirecting LNG supplies, rather than pipe gas, the expert said. Russian pipe gas is now supplied largely to Hungary and Slovakia, to the most friendly countries within the EU. Furthermore, pipe gas cannot be redirected to alternative markets, as distinct from LNG.

"The Russian LNG is predominantly imported in the EU by Spain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, that is, by countries supporting sanctions against Russia, The logic of terminating LNG supplies to the EU can be locally to support countries with heavy dependence on Qatari LNG imports. In particular, high dependence on importing LNG from Qatar is observed for Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, South Korea, Taiwan and India. Some of these countries (China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) may well increase or start importing Russian gas if interruptions with exports from Qatar last longer," Kaufman said.