Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned once morest a further reduction in gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. If Russia does not get back the turbine repaired in Canada, the daily throughput capacity might fall significantly at the end of July. The Kremlin chief said this on Wednesday night on the sidelines of a summit meeting with Turkey and Iran in Tehran, according to the Russian state news agency Tass. “We still have a finished route – that’s Nord Stream 2. We can put it into operation,” Putin offered at the same time.
Hardly any Russian gas has flowed to Germany since July 11 because the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1 is out of service for maintenance work. It is feared that Gazprom might keep the gas tap closed even following the work has been completed, which Berlin estimates will take regarding ten days.
Bild:
Keystone/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP/Grigory Sysoev
In Tehran, in the debate regarding the blockade of Ukrainian grain exports, Putin called for Western sanctions on Russian grain exports to be lifted: “We will facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain, but we assume that all restrictions in connection with air freight deliveries for the export of Russian grain,” he said.
Western states accuse Russia of deliberately restricting the export of Ukrainian and Russian grain. Moscow, on the other hand, blames Western sanctions for a lack of exports and rising food prices worldwide. However, the EU and other countries have repeatedly emphasized that food shipments from Russia are not subject to their sanctions.
The EU Commission is expected to present its emergency plan today in the event that Russia no longer supplies gas through the Baltic Sea pipeline even following the end of the repair work on Nord Stream 1, which was originally expected on Thursday. The fear of a Russian delivery stop had recently grown in the buyer countries.
Bild:
Keystone/EPA/Kremlin Pool/Sergei Savostyanov