Putin tells European leaders if they want gas then lift sanctions on Nord Stream 2

European leaders have been told by Vladimir Putin that the solution to having gas this winter is simple – just lift the Nord Stream 2 sanctions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told European leaders this Friday, September 16, that if they are so desperate for gas this winter then all they need to do is lift the sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Speaking at a press conference after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan, he said: “In the end, if you are impatient, if everything is so difficult, take and lift the sanctions on Nord Stream 2, it is 55,000 million cubic metres a year.  Just press the button and everything will be fine”.

Putin recalled that it was not Russia that blocked Nord Stream 2, but Germany, and even before the start of the military campaign in Ukraine last February 24.

The Russian president also assured that Moscow did not cut off gas to Europe through Nord Stream 1 because it liked to do so. Instead, he claimed he was forced to do so by not receiving spare parts for the turbines that stop working due to sanctions.

The EU has insisted that the Russian turbines are not under sanctions, to which, Putin countered that they are, under British law, since the British subsidiary of Siemens does the repairs and maintenance of the pipeline’s engines. “Are we to blame? Let them think about who is to blame. Let them not blame us for their own mistakes”, he stressed.

Putin emphasised that both the Russian gas giant Gazprom and Moscow have fulfilled, and will continue to fulfil, all their contractual obligations. “There have never been failures here and there never will be”, he defended. 

In the opinion of the Russian president, Europe wants to shift the blame to Moscow to protect itself from the outrage of its own citizens over the energy crisis.

“This is another attempt to transfer the problem or the headache from the sick to the healthy. The energy crisis in Europe did not start with the start of a special military operation (in Ukraine), but much earlier”, he concluded, as reported by larazon.es.

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