Since July 11, the Russian gas pipeline "Nord Stream" has been completely stopped, allegedly for scheduled repairs. Germany stopped receiving gas through it.
Interfax writes about it.
In Russia, they assure that such works are carried out on gas pipelines every year and everything was agreed upon. The gas pipeline will be repaired from July 11 to 21.
According to data on the operatorʼs website, since 6 oʼclock in the morning, gas through the "Nord Stream" has stopped flowing. Works should last ten days at the level of hardware and software.
But in Germany, there are fears that planned technical work can turn into "continuous maintenance for political reasons". The pressure on Canada with the demand to make an exception to the sanctions and hand over the gas turbine to the Russians for the repair of the gas pipeline is related to this.
- On July 10, Canadaʼs Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson announced that his country would make an exception to the sanctions introduced against Russia and return a turbine to Germany, which is needed to service the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
- Serhiy Makogon, general director of the "Operator GTS of Ukraine" LLC, said that Canada has succumbed to pressure, and Russia will continue to blackmail the EU. The Ukrainian side emphasizes that the Russian Federation can continue the uninterrupted supply of gas to the EU, even if for some reason transportation via the “Nord Stream” is impossible. In particular, Russia can use the transit capacity through Ukraine that it has already paid for. However, the Russians are deliberately cutting supplies in order to blackmail the EU and force certain exemptions from sanctions.