Russian state energy firm Gazprom is being sued by Lithuania for allegedly overcharging it for gas. It emerged the country is seeking compensation of $2billion (£1.2bn) from the world’s largest gas supplier last week.

Gazprom holds a third of shares in the Baltic state’s largest gas firm, Lietuvos Dujos.

The country’s Energy Ministry said it was taking its case to an arbitration court in Stockholm, just two weeks before Lithuania heads into elections.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius is reported as saying his country had “tried to convince them to adjust prices prior to any arbitral actions, however, to no avail”.