The Kremlin blamed the EU for stopping gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. “If the Europeans make an absolutely absurd decision to refuse to maintain their facilities, or rather, facilities owned by Gazprom, then it is not Gazprom’s fault, but the fault of the politicians who made sanctions decisions have,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on the state television program “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin,” the Interfax news agency reported on Sunday.
According to Peskov, the Europeans are contractually obliged to maintain the plant of the Russian energy giant Gazprom. Politicians are now making sure “that their citizens suffer strokes when they see their electricity bills,” said Peskow, referring to the rapidly increasing energy prices. “Now that it’s getting colder, the situation will get worse.”
Gazprom had announced on Friday evening that it would no longer route gas through the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline, citing a technical defect in the Portovaya compressor station. The group had previously justified a three-day delivery stop from Wednesday to Friday with maintenance work.
The Federal Network Agency had previously doubted that the leak was to blame for the delivery stop. “According to the Bundesnetzagentur’s assessment, the defects alleged by the Russian side are not a technical reason for the cessation of operations,” writes the authority’s management report on the gas supply. Siemens Energy, the manufacturer of the allegedly affected turbine, made a similar statement. Sealing such leaks is a routine part of maintenance work.
According to the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, the German gas storage facilities are now around 85 percent full. The ministry said on Twitter on Sunday that “the storage target, which is only set by law for October 1st, has already been reached.”
In view of the sharp rise in energy prices, the federal government put together a new relief package of at least 65 billion euros. This is intended to support the population and companies, as the coalition partners announced.
