Russian leader Vladimir Putin has joined forces with Germany against the US over a new gas pipeline. His weekend trip, which included a visit to Austria, also struck a symbolic blow against EU diplomatic sanctions over his invasion of Ukraine.

German chancellor Angela Merkel and Putin defended the Nord Stream 2 gas project at their meeting in Meseberg Castle, outside Berlin, on Saturday (18 August) in Putin’s first bilateral visit to Germany since the invasion in 2014, according to EU Observer.

“In connection with Ukraine, we will also talk about gas transit. In my view, even if Nord Stream 2 exists, Ukraine has a role to play in gas transit to Europe,” Merkel said ahead of their three-and-a-half hour discussions.

The project will “perfect the European gas transport system and minimise transit risks. It will ensure supply for growing consumption in Europe”, Putin said.

“Nord Stream 2 is an exclusively economic project. It does not close any possibilities for transit of Russian gas through Ukraine,” he added.

“Germany is one of the largest buyers of Russian energy resources … consumption of Russian gas is growing from year to year. Last year, it increased by 13 percent,” he also said.

The pipeline, which is already being built, will concentrate 80 percent of Russian gas sales to Europe on the German route from 2020.

Its critics say it will entrench European energy dependence on Russia and help Moscow to cut off Western allies, including Ukraine, for strategic reasons in future.

The Merkel-Putin meeting came amid US preparations to impose financial sanctions on the five EU energy firms involved in the project.

It also came amid a wider transatlantic rift after US leader Donald Trump accused Germany of being “captured” by Russia due to the pipeline deal and after he imposed trade tariffs on EU metals exports, prompting a trade war.

Merkel and Putin declined to take questions from press, but Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, underlined the idea that Germany and Russia were taking a common stance against the US in what amounted to a symbolic reversal of the prior Western alliance against Russia’s aggressive behaviour.

They agreed that it was “necessary to take steps to shield it [the pipeline] from potential attacks from third countries [the US],” Peskov said.