Olaf Scholz accused Russia on Wednesday of being responsible for blocking the delivery of a turbine that is currently in Germany, without which the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline that supplies gas to Europe cannot, according to Moscow, function normally.
Moscow only has to “provide the necessary customs information for its transport to Russia,” he said during a visit to the Siemens factory in Mühlheim an der Ruhr (west) where this turbine is located. Russia reduced the volume of its deliveries in June and July, saying the pipeline could not function normally without a turbine repaired in Canada and that it had not returned to Russia due to sanctions imposed by the West following the Russian assault on Russia. Ukraine.
“Pretext”
Germany and Canada have agreed to bring the equipment back to Russia, but the turbine has yet to reach its final destination. Berlin has estimated on more than one occasion in recent days that it was just a “pretext” and a “political” decision to weigh on Westerners in the context of the war in Ukraine. For Olaf Scholz, Moscow also sends a “complicated message” to the whole world by questioning its willingness to “keep its commitments” in the future.
The Nord Stream gas pipeline, with a capacity according to Gazprom of 167 million m3 per day, links Russia with Germany through the Baltic Sea. The tube is strategic for supplying gas to Europeans, especially the Germans, who are heavily dependent on Russian energy resources. Westerners accuse Moscow of using the energy weapon in retaliation for the sanctions adopted after the offensive against Ukraine.
The Kremlin, for its part, says that the sanctions are at the origin of technical problems in the gas infrastructure and that, therefore, Europe suffers from the measures imposed on Russia.
Source: BFM TV
