“It is the fault of those who approved the sanctions”

In return, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholzhas denounced this position of Russia and has announced a new aid package of more than 65,000 million euros to alleviate the energy crisis and inflation.

Scholz has remarked that “the trigger for this very difficult situation is the Russian invasion of Ukraine” and has sent a message of calm to the citizens making it clear that Germany “will be able to face the winter”. “We are going to redirect our country with total security”, he explained.

Russian reaction

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskovand the Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novakin charge of energy issues, intervened this Sunday in a program on the television channel Rossija-1, called “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin”. Both assured that the indefinite suspension of gas supply by Nord Stream 1 is not the fault of the state company Gazprom.

“Gazprom has earned its reputation as a reliable guarantor of the energy security and loyal supplier for many decades. And we are convinced that Gazprom has not taken a single step that shakes this reputation,” Peskov said.

“Yes Europeans make an absolutely absurd decision according to which they refuse to repair their equipment, or rather, the equipment that belongs to Gazprom, but which, according to the contract, they have to repair, this is not the fault of Gazprom, it is the fault of the politicians who made the decision on the sanctions” added the spokesman.

Novak, like Peskov, has not ruled out more rises in the price of gas in Europe due to the “myopic” policies of the EU that lead to the “collapse” of the energy market on the continent. “And this is not the limit, because we are still in the warm season, we still have winter ahead of us, and there are many unpredictable things,” she warned.

[El corte ‘sine die’ del gas ruso empuja a la eurozona hacia una inflación del 10% seguida de una recesión]

In addition, the former president of Russia and head of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedevhas referred to these statements by the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, that Russia already not a reliable energy provider. In his Telegram account, Medvedev recalled that Germany is “an unfriendly countryimposed sanctions against the entire Russian economy and its citizens and supplies Ukraine with lethal weapons directed against our Armed Forces.” “And he is surprised that the Germans have some minor gas problems!” he added.

More leadership for Germany

Ukrainian Prime Minister, denys schmyhalvisited Berlin this Sunday to meet, on the one hand, with the president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeierand later, with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz. The objective of these meetings was to strengthen the union between Ukraine and one of the most powerful countries in the EU in the face of war and to maintain the pulse between the West and Russia.

Germany is the main contributor military and financial aid to Ukraine among EU partners, but during some moments of the war Scholz has been accused of a lack of determination or slowness in materializing such support.

In the first place, Schmyhal thanked Steinmeier for “the solidarity and support” provided by Germany to his country, but he urged Berlin to “assume greater leadership” at EU level for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Later, the Ukrainian prime minister was received with military honors by the German chancellor. Schmyhal expressed his appreciation for the reception in Germany of almost a million refugees from their country since the start of the war. In addition, kyiv expects to receive new EU aid of 5 billion euros for financial and military aid next week.

These meetings have served to close some bilateral disagreements. Especially the last episode in which Steinmeier gave up traveling to kyiv in April because his presence was “unwanted.” But after several diplomatic efforts, these differences were considered overcome, and finally the German leader traveled together with Scholz to kyiv, accompanied by the French president, Emmanuel Macronand the then Italian Prime Minister, mario draghi.

Zelensky puts pressure on the EU

While Ukraine awaits the agreed military and financial aid package, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskypressured the EU this Sunday to implement a new wave of sanctions on Russia in a phone call with the head of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen.

Zelensky, who has warned Europeans that a difficult winter is expected due to cuts in Russian oil and gas exportshas also assured that it has agreed with Von Der Leyen “measures to limit Russia’s excessive profits from the sale of oil and gas.”

In addition, the Ukrainian leader has insisted on the ban on visas for Russian citizens. However, the countries of the European Union agreed last Wednesday to restrict these travel permits for Russian tourism in certain aspects with the aim of reducing a significant number of visas for Russian citizens to enter the EU and more bureaucratic procedures to obtain them.