Russia is ready to resume gas supplies to Europe via the Yamal-Europe pipeline, previously shut down for political reasons, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told Russia’s state news agency TASS on Sunday.
“The European market remains relevant as the gas shortage continues and we have every opportunity to resume deliveries. For example, the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which was shut down for political reasons, remains unused,” Novak said.
Demand for gas from Europe is on the rise, Novak said, according to TASS.
“Today we can confidently say that there is demand for our gas. We therefore continue to consider Europe as a potential sales market for our products. It is clear that a large-scale campaign was launched against us, which ended in acts of sabotage against Nord Stream,” she said.
Other background: Russia has been locked in an energy confrontation with Europe since it invaded Ukraine in February.
In May, just 44 hours after Ukraine cut the flow of natural gas through its territory to Europe, blaming Russian troops for interference, Gazprom cut off supplies via the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which crosses the Poland, by cutting off gas supplies to a distributor in Germany. According to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency, Gazprom was forced to suspend supplies due to sanctions imposed on parent company EuRoPol GAZ.
In December, West-East gas supplies from Germany to Poland were also temporarily cut off, “dropped to zero,” TASS reports.
