Russia denies it will cut gas to Europe if sanctions imposed: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said

MOSCOW: The Kremlin has dismissed fears that Russia could turn off the gas tap to Europe in the event of sanctions over its troop build-up on the border with Ukraine.

"Russia has impeccably fulfilled its treaty obligations in the most difficult moments of confrontation between East and West," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday in Moscow, according to the Interfax agency.

"Russia has never given any reason to doubt its reliability."

The Kremlin was responding to European media reports that a gas supply freeze could be imminent.

Peskov labelled the reports "hysteria" and "insinuations."

The West has threatened Moscow with consequences if Russia invades Ukraine but Russia denies it has any such plans despite the troop build-up.

In Germany, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, Michael Roth, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that if the West imposed sanctions, gas supplies from Russia could be "put at risk."