Kremlin rejects Trump's description of Germany as Russian 'captive'

The Kremlin on Thursday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's description of Germany as a "captive" of Russia due to its energy reliance, saying Moscow and Berlin were equally dependent on each other.

Trump made the comments at a NATO summit in Brussels on Wednesday, telling Germany it was wrong to support an ê11-billion Baltic Sea pipeline to import even more Russian gas while being slow to meet targets for NATO spending. 

"As for Germany's dependence (on Russia) as a major gas buyer we cannot agree with this premise," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call when asked about Trump's comments. 

" ...Supplies of pipeline gas do not lead to dependence of one country on another but to complete mutual dependence. That is a guarantee of stability and future development."