Russia blames western sanctions for disrupted deliveries of gas to Europe
According to the The Kremlin, problems with the supply of Russian gas through the Nord Stream pipeline will persist until Western sanctions are lifted.
"Problems in delivery arose because of the sanctions imposed against our country and against a number of companies by Western states, including Germany and the UK. There are no other reasons that would lead to problems with delivery," said Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
According to Peskov, "one pumping station is working. But it fails, it breaks down, and this leads to a disruption in delivery."
"Given that the sanctions continue, given that they bring absolute confusion, legal, practical in the maintenance of all components and assemblies, now we can count only on this single unit that somehow it will be possible to fix it," the Kremlin representative continued.
Peskov also said that because of the sanctions, the entire work of the pipeline "depends on one unit that needs serious maintenance."
Peskov was asked whether it could be said that the issue of delivering gas through Nord Stream is completely dependent on sanctions and supplies will resume if these sanctions are lifted or eased.
"Of course, the very sanctions that prevent the maintenance of units, that prevent them from being moved without appropriate legal guarantees, that prevent us from giving these legal guarantees and so on, it is these sanctions that Western states have imposed that have brought the situation to what we see now," Putin's spokesman said.
On September 2, Russia completely stopped gas supplies to Europe citing "malfunction" in Nord Stream pipeline.
German authorities called the shutdown of Nord Stream groundless.