After Russia suspended the Nord Stream 1 pipeline indefinitely last Friday, the Kremlin said on Monday (5th) that Russia’s natural gas supply to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 would not fully resume unless Western countries The collective lifting of sanctions on Moscow.
Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Monday that sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union, Britain and Canada were “creating chaos” and preventing Russia from sending gas to Europe via Nord Stream 1, the Financial Times (FT) reported. .
Peskov’s remarks were by far the strongest demand from the Kremlin, while Moscow still claimed a technical problem caused the interruption, and Russia wants the EU to lift sanctions in exchange for a full resumption of Russian gas deliveries to the continent.
European leaders have called the technical problems, in Russia’s mouth, a ruse, and accused Moscow of “weaponizing” energy exports in retaliation for Western sanctions.
Russia’s state-run gas company Gazprom said late on Friday that it would stop supplying gas through Nord Stream 1 due to technical problems, following the G7 announced a cap on purchase prices for Russian oil, blaming the The German-made turbines were sent to Canada for repairs, but Canada refused to return the turbines, citing cooperation with sanctions.
The plan is aimed at preventing Moscow from financing the war machine through hydrocarbon sales. Russia has offset most of the sanctions hit, thanks to oil and gas revenues. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered a surge in energy prices.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that the ratio of EU natural gas imports from Russia has plummeted to 9% from 50% a few months ago. He called on the public to save energy, such as reducing the indoor heating temperature to 19 degrees in winter to save at least 10% of energy consumption.