“We still have Nord Stream 2” – Putin ignites the next phase of his gas war against Germany
Putin warns of further cuts in Nord Stream 1 supplies
Kremlin President Vladimir Putin said the pipeline’s daily flow capacity could drop significantly by the end of July if Russia does not return the turbine, which was repaired in Canada. However, at the same time, he provided gas supply via Nord Stream 2.
Russia’s president has made it clear that he will aggressively exploit Europe’s self-absorbed gas dependency. Putin is threatening to halve the already low gas flow through Nord Stream 1 again at the end of July – suddenly bringing Nord Stream 2 into play.
SGermany has been looking anxiously east for weeks. That’s because the world’s fourth-largest economy has depended on Russia for its natural gas supplies for years. The central government knows that Vladimir Putin has Europe and Germany in his hands. Now the Russian president has begun to actively exploit his gas power.
On Tuesday evening he first made a promise of something. Russian gas company Gazprom will fulfill its obligations “in full”. But in almost the same breath he warned Europe against further cuts in Russian gas supplies through the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1. He also hinted that he might later try to force Europe and Germany to launch a war to push through the stalled Nord Stream 2 pipeline. .
Putin spoke on the sidelines of a high-level meeting in Tehran on Wednesday night with Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He stressed that if Russia does not return the turbine for Pipeline 1, which is being repaired in Canada, the daily performance of Nord Stream 1 could be significantly reduced again – adding: “We still have a completed route – that is Nord Stream 2. They can.” We have brought it into action”.
The President of Russia arrived at Tehran Airport on Tuesday
What: AB/Konstantin Savragin
Without the turbine, the daily throughput capacity threatens to decrease by 33 million cubic meters per day by the end of July due to the necessary repairs of an “extra unit”. That would be nearly half of the 67 million cubic meters Russia has already cut capacity from June.
And this would be only a fifth of the pipeline’s maximum capacity of about 150 million cubic meters per day. The Nord Stream 1 pipeline – the most important gas pipeline from Russia to Germany – became operational in 2011. The pipeline, which is over 1,200 kilometers long, is now completely shut down for annual maintenance work.
The work will continue till Thursday. It has been the subject of speculation for days in Germany and Europe as to whether it will be raised again. A Siemens turbine repaired in Canada played a key role.
It has long been shelved by the government in Ottawa because of Western sanctions as a result of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Ukraine insisted not to deliver the turbine. But concerns are growing in the West that Putin could use the unsupplied turbine as an opportunity to further cut gas supplies.
Current situation in Ukraine
Source: Infographic World
After all, Germany, existentially dependent on Russian gas, succeeded in granting the turbine to the Federal Republic with special permission so that it could be installed in the Baltic Sea pipeline. According to the German government, the supply of the turbine is exempt from EU sanctions against Russia because these are not aimed at gas transport.
It is said that neither the turbine nor the related documents have arrived from Moscow. Additionally, it remains questionable whether Vladimir Putin has found a new justification for cutting gas supplies despite installing the turbine — and will again show that the central government is overstepping its efforts to deal constructively with the Kremlin.
However, reports from Putin in Tehran indicated that the pipeline may not be brought back to full capacity even after maintenance work is completed and the turbine is installed. The mention of the Nord Stream made people sit up and take notice.
Putin suddenly opens a link between two Baltic Sea pipelines. With this statement, Putin says that he could deliberately close the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Europe fears a winter without Russian gas, and agrees to operate Nord Stream 2. It would be a huge identity shame. As if that wasn’t enough, Putin added that only half of the originally planned volume would be delivered via the Baltic Sea pipeline, as Russia needed the rest for domestic needs.
Nord Stream 2 was highly controversial even before Russia invaded Ukraine. Construction of the pipeline was sealed by Germany and Russia in 2015 – a year after the annexation of Crimea and the start of Russia’s war in eastern Ukraine. It was clear from the start that with the two Nord Stream pipelines, Russian gas could flow entirely through the Baltic Sea – with Ukraine and Poland passing through as transit countries. It will massively weaken the geostrategic position of these countries.
Despite all the warnings, the central government – above all SPD ministers – went ahead with the pipeline. As a rule, the focus was on relations with Russia and the supply of cheap gas to the German economy. No one in Berlin wants to hear the fact that since 2014 there have been growing signs that Vladimir Putin wants to wipe Ukraine off the map.
Only on the day of the invasion of Ukraine was Chancellor Olaf Schaalz (SPD) willing to suspend Nord Stream 2. Germany suspended the approval process for the route’s operation. The end of Nord Stream 2 is seen as one of the logical steps Germany took in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
If the Federal Republic were to bring the pipeline back into operation now, threatened by Vladimir Putin, it would be a new sign of the colossal failure of energy policy under Chancellors Hegard Schröder (SPD) and Angela Merkel (CDU).
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