Europe: The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday, has offered to restore gas supplies to Europe using the intact part of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. In his speech at an energy forum in Moscow, Putin stated- “The ball is in the EU’s court. If they want to, then the taps can be turned on, and that’s it.Â
However, Germany has refused the offer to receive gas from the Russian President, saying that it won’t accept gas from Russia via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that has been a flashpoint in the Ukrainian crisis.
On being asked about Berlin ruling out the use of Nord Stream 2, Christiane Hoffmann, the spokeswoman of the German government, has affirmed, saying ‘Yes’; independently of the possible sabotage of the two pipelines, we have seen that Russia is no longer a reliable energy supplier and that even before the damage to Nord Stream 1 there was no longer any gas flowing.”
Russia released a considerably large amount of gas into the Baltic Sea after both links of Nord Stream 1 and one of the two links of Nord Stream 2 pipeline had been damaged on September 26.
The gas supplies were halted by Russia in early September on the excuse of technical faults. Nord Stream 2 hasn’t been operational as Germany has disrupted its approval after Russia invaded Ukraine.the Russian official has expressed the possibility of repairing the pipelines, but Russia and Europe should decide their fate.
The Russian invasion had the European buyers of a Russian energy company, Gazprom to, look out for alternative options for gas supplies. Meanwhile, the head of Russian energy giant Gazprom, Alexie Miller, stated that the technical faults in the Nord Stream pipelines could take more than a year to repair and be restored to their full capacity.
