No gas from Russia because of Siemens Energy?
Chief supervisor Kaeser sees reason in the Kremlin
Created: 06/30/2022Updated: 06/30/2022, 10:40 am
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
Joe Kaeser, chairman of the supervisory board of Siemens Energy, has commented on the Kremlin claims.
© Peter Kneffel/dpa
Russia has significantly reduced its gas supplies to Europe.
According to the Kremlin, this is due to delays in repair work on a Siemens turbine.
The group denies the allegations.
Munich – In June, the federal government declared the gas emergency plan to be on alert because Russia had significantly reduced its gas supplies to Europe.
However, Moscow denies any blame for the gas throttling on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in the Baltic Sea.
Delays in repair work caused by sanctions are the cause of the problem, according to the Kremlin.
According to Russian information, a Siemens turbine for the pipeline is stuck abroad.
Joe Kaeser on Kremlin claims: "There must be a political motivation"
"The Russian Federation is fulfilling all its obligations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax agency.
Peskow once again denied that the gas throttling was politically motivated.
That is exactly what Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) accuses the Kremlin of.
He sees the Russian explanations for the supply bottlenecks as a pretext and recently accused Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin of an "economic attack".
Now the energy company Siemens Energy has also commented on the Russian claims.
"It's very convenient to bring in a company that is well known in Russia," Joe Kaeser, chairman of Siemens Energy's supervisory board, told the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
.
"Even if it were, that would never justify choking the gas flow so much." He also said: "There must be a political motivation, there's no other way."
War in Ukraine: Siemens withdraws from the Russian market
Russia's state energy giant Gazprom has reduced gas deliveries to Germany from a maximum of 167 million cubic meters per day to 67 million cubic meters per day since mid-June - this corresponds to a reduction of around 60 percent.
A ten-day routine maintenance of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will also begin on July 11. Energy suppliers and Habeck are concerned that Gazprom will not be able to turn the pipeline back on afterwards and will supply even less gas than before.
Siemens itself withdrew from the Russian market in May after 170 years of business relationships.
Accordingly, the German company has initiated proceedings to cease its industrial operations and all industrial business activities in Russia and Belarus.
Only the healthcare division Siemens Healthineers will remain in Russia.
(lma/dpa)
