Gas, Putin and Gazprom threaten Europe: winter will crush you- Corriere.it

Putin returns to threaten Europe. Pending the European Commission’s decision on the price cap, which should arrive next week, the escalation of threats from the Russian president to Europe continues. Yesterday Putin confronted the Europeans with yet another energy blackmail claiming that gas deliveries will be able to resume in large quantities, with Nord Stream 2 or through Turkey, but stressing that it will only be possible if the EU countries do not put a ceiling on the price of gas. Otherwise they will stay dry.

The Gazprom threat: freezing winter in Europe

In detail, Putin said: «Russia is ready to supply further volumes of gas to Europe in the autumn-winter, the ball is in the field of the EU. Moscow is ready to supply gas through the Nord Stream 2 line ». He then added: “We can transfer the lost transit volume along the Nord Stream gas pipelines, on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, to the Black Sea region. Therefore, make the supply routes for our fuel, our natural gas to Europe main. through Turkey, creating the largest gas hub for Europe in Turkey. Certainly, if our partners are interested in this ». The words of the CEO of Gazprom, Aleksej Borisovič Miller, for whom next winter will crash Europe are harsher. “There are no guarantees – he said – that Europe will survive this winter with the current reserves in underground gas storage facilities ». Miller then said that the restoration of the damaged Nord Stream pipelines will take at least a year and that Russia has not yet been granted access to the area. Putin in these hours has defined the damage to the pipeline as a “terrorist act” whose beneficiaries “are evident: the US and countries with alternative supply routes”.

The Druhzba pipeline

In terms of supplies, it also worries the situation of the Druzhba pipeline in Poland. One of the two Druzhba lines, crucial for the supply of Russian crude oil to East Germany and at the center of an energy showdown with Russia, was closed on Tuesday evening after a leak was detected in an underground section of the pipeline in Zurawice. , 180 kilometers west of Warsaw. The incident did not cause the interruption of crude oil deliveries to Germany, the Polish and German parties announced.

The gas leak which caused the partial closure of the infrastructure, which connects Russia to Germanyaccording to the first reconnaissance, it would be accidental. The Polish operator Pern explains: «Based on the initial results and taking into account the deformations of the pipeline, it seems that at this stage there are no signs of intervention by third parties». However, the investigations are still ongoing. “Detailed analyzes are underway to determine the cause of the accident and repair the pipeline so that pumping of crude oil can resume as soon as possible,” the company said.