Why has Russia cut off gas supplies to Europe?
Russia’s move to indefinitely suspend gas flows to Europe via Nord Stream 1 is seen as a further escalation of its policy to inflict economic pain to Germany.
Lisi Niesner | Reuters
Europe has been thrown into its biggest energy crisis in decades with natural gas supplies from Russia becoming volatile and unpredictable even before the invasion of Ukraine began. Now, those supplies have come to a complete halt.
Russia claims punitive economic sanctions imposed on it by the West are responsible for the indefinite halt to gas supplies via Europe’s main pipeline.
“Problems in pumping arose because of the sanctions imposed against our country and against a number of companies by Western states, including Germany and the U.K.,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, according to Russian state news agency Interfax.
Asked whether pumping gas via Nord Stream 1 was completely dependent on the sanctions and that supplies would resume if these were lifted or relaxed, Peskov replied, “Of course. The very sanctions that prevent the maintenance of units, which prevent them from moving without appropriate legal guarantees, which prevent these legal guarantees from being given, and so on.”
“It is precisely these sanctions that the Western states have introduced that have brought the situation to what we see now,” Peskov added.
Coming directly from the Kremlin, such comments represent the clearest indication yet that Russia is seeking to pressure Europe to lift the economic measures, brought in to punish Russia over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, in order for the taps to be turned back on ahead of winter.
European lawmakers have repeatedly accused Russia, traditionally its largest energy supplier, of weaponizing energy exports in an attempt to drive up commodity prices and sow uncertainty across the 27-nation bloc. Moscow denies using energy as a weapon.
Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom halted all exports via Nord Stream 1 from Aug. 31, citing maintenance works on its only remaining compressor.
However, while flows were due to resume after three days, Gazprom on Friday cited an oil leak for the indefinite shutdown of the pipeline. The shock announcement came hot on the heels of a joint statement from the G-7 economic powers backing a proposal to put a price capping mechanism on Russian oil.
In what energy analysts see as an escalation of Russia’s bid to inflict economic pain on the region, the Kremlin has since said that the resumption of gas supplies to Europe is completely dependent on Europe lifting its economic sanctions against Moscow.
The halt to supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which connects Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, prompted European gas prices to jump on Monday, with many fearful that parts of Europe could be forced to ration energy through the winter. It has also exacerbated the risk of recession in the region.
Gazprom vs. Siemens Energy
Meanwhile, Gazprom’s Deputy CEO Vitaly Markelov told Reuters on Tuesday…