Vilnius - The Lithuanian foreign ministry said Thursday it backed a suggestion by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to abandon the Nord Stream gas pipeline project due to be built under the Baltic Sea.

On Wednesday Putin said Europe must decide whether it wants the 10-billion-dollar pipeline to link Russia and Germany or not.

"If not, we will not start building the pipeline. Instead we will build plants for liquefying the gas and will send it to world markets," Putin said after talks with Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.

"We do not need it more than European consumers. If there is no need for the pipeline we will start liquefying the gas and selling it by the tankerload to the world markets, including the European market. Only that it will be more expensive," Putin said.

A press release from the Lithuanian ministry of foreign affairs issued Thursday said: "The ministry... is positive about the intentions voiced by representatives of the Russian administration to liquefy natural gas and supply it to the global market by ships."

Such a decision would liberalize the market for natural gas and enhance the reliability of gas supplies, the statement said.

Lithuania, Estonia and Poland have been long-time opponents of the undersea pipeline project, a joint venture between Russian energy giant Gazprom, which has a 51 per cent stake, German companies BASF/Wintershall and E. ON Ruhrgas, which hold 20 per cent each, and Dutch company Gasunie which has a 9 per cent share.

The Lithuanian government has previously argued that a land pipeline would be acceptable and accuses the Nord Stream project of being a strategic ruse to allow Russia to bypass the Baltic states.

Another Baltic nation, Latvia, has maintained a more equivocal position on Nord Stream.

Countries that would be at the other end of the Nord Stream supply such as Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, have voiced support for Nord Stream, arguing that it will help to diversify European energy supplies. (dpa)