Kremlin says Russia is reliable gas supplier, blames Europe for problems
(Reuters) – The Kremlin stated on Thursday that every one difficulties with the provision of Russian pure gasoline to Europe had been brought on by Western restrictions, after a serious gasoline pipeline was restarted at under capability following upkeep.
Russia resumed pumping pure gasoline by way of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Europe earlier on Thursday after a 10-day outage, allaying Europe’s speedy winter provide fears after President Vladimir Putin had warned that flows may very well be lower additional or stopped.
Thursday’s flows had been again at 40% capability, Nord Stream figures confirmed. Russian vitality large Gazprom lower the flows by way of the pipeline final month, saying {that a} pumping turbine had not been returned from Canada the place it was despatched for upkeep.
Canada, which had initially withheld the turbine due to sanctions in opposition to Moscow over Ukraine, determined to return the tools, serviced by Siemens Vitality, again to Russia.
In a name with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia stays “a vital and indispensable a part of European vitality safety”.
Amid issues in Europe that Russia would possibly additional limit gasoline provides to the continent, Peskov referred to earlier Putin feedback that Gazprom had at all times fulfilled its obligations to purchasers and would proceed to take action.
He rebuffed accusations by some Western politicians, together with European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen, that Russia was utilizing vitality provides to “blackmail” Europe.
“Putin has fairly comprehensively defined, that it is flawed to speak about any strain, any blackmail. That is a completely flawed assertion and we categorically deny it,” Peskov stated.
He stated that due to sanctions imposed by the European Union, Nord Stream 1 confronted challenges in tools upkeep.
“Precisely these very restrictions led to the truth that the machines can not obtain the mandatory servicing. The restrictions imposed by the Europeans are the explanation for his or her issues.”
(Reporting by Reuters; Enhancing by David Goodman and Philippa Fletcher)
