Even as new threats of sanctions from the U.S. chill relations, Vladimir Putin teased a longtime ally who was among the first to be hit with the limits for being shy about talking up the latest shipments of Russian natural gas to its Cold War rival.

“The first tanker has already arrived in the United States,” Putin told Gennady Timchenko, co-owner of the Russian partner in Yamal LNG, a $27 billion Arctic project which the Kremlin leader has made a personal priority, despite U.S. financial sanctions. “The media has already put out the information but you’re still scared to.”

Timchenko, a billionaire whose ties with Putin go back to the 1990s earned him a spot as one of the first Russian businessmen hit with U.S. sanctions in 2014 over the Ukraine crisis, said he was reluctant to tout the delivery.

“This fact is known to the market, but we’re not screaming about it because we’re a bit afraid,” he told Putin at a meeting with visiting French business leaders late Wednesday at the presidential residence outside Moscow. “We’re businessmen.”

“Well, I’m not a businessman, so I think it’s possible to talk about this,” Putin said.