The U.S. State Department has urged Gazprom to implement the decision of the Stockholm Arbitration Tribunal and resume gas supplies through Ukraine, State Department's Spokesperson Heather Nauert has said.

"Gas supply and transit must never be a political weapon. We expect Gazprom to supply gas to Ukraine's transit pipeline per Stockholm Arbitration decision. Russia should prove it is a reliable gas supplier," Nauert said on Twitter in early hours of Saturday.

As reported, U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday, March 2, announced that the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660 against Russia over Ukraine will be prolonged for another year.

"In accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660," he said in a statement posted on the White House's website.

This executive order was first adopted on March 6, 2014 by the administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama in connection with the situation in Ukraine.

"The actions and policies addressed in these Executive Orders continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. For this reason, the national emergency declared on March 6, 2014, and the measures adopted on that date, on March 16, 2014, on March 20, 2014, and on December 19, 2014, to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond March 6, 2018," the statement said.

The document will be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.

The anti-Russian sanctions were first introduced by the Obama Administration in 2014. The first sanctions became effective on March 6, 2014, later on March 16, March 20, and December 19, 2014, they were extended.

The sanctions are prolonged every 12 months.

State Dept calls on Gazprom to resume gas supplies through Ukraine