Russia stops gas supply at Nord Stream again: Zelenskyj accuses Putin of blackmail

Created: 08/20/2022, 06:12

By: Andreas Schmid

Gazprom announces a three-day shutdown of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline from the end of August.

© Stefan Sauer/dpa

Russia turns off the gas tap again.

On August 31, Gazprom cut off supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

Update from August 19, 10:40 p.m

.: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyj accuses Russia of using its gas pipelines for blackmail.

"Russia only needs these pipelines to create problems in Europe, not to help with gas," he said in Kyiv.

The quicker the European states made themselves independent of Russian energy, the sooner they would get through the winter in peace.

Without naming FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki, Selenskyj spoke of “absurd statements” in Germany about putting Nord Stream 2 into operation.

On Friday, Kubicki had called for Russian gas to be obtained through the finished but unused Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

There was also criticism within his own party.

Russia halts gas supply at Nord Stream again

First notification of August 19

: Moscow - Russian energy giant Gazprom is suspending its gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from August 31 to September 2 for "maintenance".

The company announced this on Friday.

Russia had previously severely curtailed its gas supplies.

Gas supplies from Russia have been sharply reduced since June.

Gazprom announced that "the only gas compression station Trent 60 will be shut down for three days for maintenance".

Siemens technicians are also involved.

Maintenance is "always required after 1000 hours of operation".

As a result, the "gas transport through the Nord Stream pipeline was interrupted for three days," it said.

According to Gazprom, deliveries will then resume.

33 million cubic meters would then be delivered per day.

The decision comes amid rising gas prices and supply fears.

There was initially no response from German politicians.

Gas price rises to record high

As a reaction to the Gazprom announcement, the futures contract TTF, which is the reference, reached the price of EUR 257.40 per megawatt hour on the energy exchange in the Netherlands in the evening – more than ever before at the close of trading.

The gas price had already risen during the course of the day.

Analysts explained the price increase, among other things, with statements by network agency boss Klaus Müller.

In an interview published on Thursday, he said that the targets set by the federal government for filling the gas storage facilities could hardly be achieved.