Russia invents pretexts to cut off gas supplies, EU claims

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Russian State Natural Gas Concern “Gazprom“announced on Wednesday that the delivery of the turbine currently in Germany to the pipeline”Nord Stream” is not possible due to the sanctions imposed on Russia.

However European Commission (EC) representative Erik Mamers rejected this and accused Moscow of using the energy supply to blackmail Europe over its stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“There is nothing in the sanctions that prohibits the turbine, the Siemens turbine, from being brought to Russia,” Mamer told reporters. “Everything else that is being said on this issue is plain and simple wrong (..) and everything that the Russians are saying about it is basically an excuse not to supply gas to the European Union.”

It has already been announced that the Russian state natural gas concern “Gazprom” reduced the supply via “Nord Stream” to a fifth of the pipeline’s capacity from July 27, as an excuse to mention that the turbine of the compressor station needs to be repaired, but another turbine repaired in Canada has not yet been received. The repair of this turbine was carried out at the subsidiary of the company “Siemens Energy” in Canada.

This return of the turbine was initially delayed due to sanctions imposed on Russia, but on July 17 the Canadian government granted an exception to the sanctions regime and the turbine was immediately flown to Germany. From there, the turbine should be delivered to the “Portovaya” compressor station in the Leningrad region, but Russia is late in issuing the import documents.

In mid-June, Gazprom cut Nord Stream supplies to 40% of the pipeline’s capacity, saying it was doing so because sanctions were delaying the receipt of a turbine from Canada. German officials have emphasized that this Russian decision was made for political, not technical reasons, as Western countries support Ukraine with arms supplies and sanctions to Moscow.

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