MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. The U.S. has been trying to win back the European gas market from Russia, that is why destabilization of the situation in Ukraine has been beneficial to Washington all these years, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Wednesday.

"Russia's energy cooperation with European countries is like a stick in Washington's craw, so they need to win back another market, especially such [an important one] as the gas market. Therefore, the destabilization of the situation in Ukraine, through which our gas was supplied to Europe, has been beneficial [to Washington] for all these years," the diplomat said.

"Nord Stream 2 is a project they tried to slow down in every possible way, first not to let it appear at all, then to stop the construction, then to figure out why it can’t be put into operation, and now to push even harder by inventing another kind of Russian "threat" to introduce even more sanctions under this pretext and get even more arguments to scare the Europeans with the prospect of not receiving energy resources from us," Zakharova added.

The diplomat reiterated that Russia is a reliable supplier of gas and other energy resources both for Europe and for countries in other regions.

"We have been supplying and will supply [energy resources] for decades, doing it on mutually beneficial terms," she said.