Europe

Russia demands Gazprom not to reopen Nord Stream until Europe lifts sanctions

Russia demands Gazprom not to reopen Nord Stream until Europe lifts sanctions

The Russian gas giant Gazprom received a formal notice from the Russian authorities on Monday that the compressor at the Portovaya station, which is currently not in use and is the one that supplies gas to Germany through the Nord Stream gas pipeline, no longer meets security requirements. Thus, the Kremlin definitively closes the supply to Europe.

“The operation of this compressor unit without correcting the detected faults creates a risk of fire or explosion, which affects the industrial safety of the entire station,” says Gazprom’s statement on its Telegram channel.

On the other hand, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskovhas categorically rejected on Monday any attempt to blame Russia for the indefinite suspension of supply and again blamed the West for considering that it is the sanctions that prevent the functioning of the infrastructure.

“The problems with the pumping arose due to the sanctions imposed against our country and against a series of companies by Western states, including Germany and the United Kingdom. There are no other reasons that generate problems for the pumping “, indicated Peskov in his daily press conference.

Peskov noted that “only one turbine remains operational and with faults, with breaks, which leads to the cessation of pumping”, in statements collected by Eph. “Taking into account that the sanctions are maintained, that they generate an absolute legal and practical disorder in everything related to the technical service of all the equipment and installations, for now it only remains to trust that this single turbine can be started up” , he added.

leak not detected

The Russian gas consortium announced on the 2nd that completely cut off the flow of gas to Europe through Germany due to an oil leak, something the European Union (EU) has described as “fallacy” and as further proof that Russia is not a reliable supplier.

Gazprom points out that this leak was not detected during the inspection and service work carried out earlier by the specialists of the German company Siemens. Furthermore, it argues that the Portovaya station is now “a dangerous production facility”, so its operation without correcting the fault goes against the current legislation in Russia.

“Until the malfunction of the equipment is eliminated, the transit of gas through the Nord Stream gas pipeline is completely suspended,” the Russian consortium reported on its Telegram account at the time.

without sufficient reason

Complete elimination of oil leaks “only possible” in a specialist workshopadds the Russian consortium, citing Siemens.

On the other hand, the German company Siemens Energy, manufacturer of the turbine affected by the alleged leak at the station, maintains that this is not a sufficient reason to stop the supply.

Gazprom Chairman Alexei Miller has stated that repairing the Nord Stream turbines at a specialized factory is now impossible due to Western sanctions.

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