MOSCOW (Reuters/AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied his country had anything to do with Europe’s energy crisis, saying that if the European Union wanted more gas it should lift sanctions preventing the opening of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Speaking to reporters after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Uzbekistan, Putin blamed “the green agenda” for the energy crisis, and insisted that Russia would fulfill its energy obligations.
“The bottom line is, if you have an urge, if it’s so hard for you, just lift the sanctions on Nord Stream 2, which is 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year, just push the button and everything will get going,” Putin said, Reuters reported.
Nord Stream 2, which lays on the bed of the Baltic Sea almost in parallel to Nord Stream 1, was built a year ago, but Germany decided not to proceed with it just days before Russia sent its troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.
European gas prices more than doubled from the start of the year amid a decline in Russian supplies.
This year’s price surge has squeezed struggling already consumers and forced some industries to halt production.
Europe has accused Russia of weaponizing energy supplies in retaliation for Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine war. Russia says the West has launched an economic war and sanctions have hampered Nord Stream 1 pipeline operations.
Russia has cut off gas supplies to several countries, including Bulgaria and Poland, because they refused to pay in roubles rather than the currency of the contract.
Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) also said earlier this month the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Europe’s major supply route, would remain shut as a turbine at a compressor station had an engine oil leak, sending wholesale gas prices soaring.
According to the latest developments on the ground, Russia says it has struck several of Ukraine’s positions in the wake of the shelling by the Ukrainian side of spots near Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant Zaporizhzhia.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday its forces had conducted the strikes in the regions of Kherson, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
According to the ministry, Ukrainian forces had carried out an unsuccessful offensive near Pravdyne in Kherson.
The ministry said two incidents of Ukrainian shelling had been recorded near the plant on Saturday, but the radiation situation at the station remains normal. “The Kiev regime has resumed its provocations threatening to create a man-made disaster at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power plant,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
“In total, 15 shells were fired from the Nikopol area of the Dnepropetrovsk region. Artillery units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were suppressed by return fire.”
Earlier this month, Russia accused Ukraine of repeatedly shelling the vicinity of Zaporizhzhia.
Russia took control of the plant in March. It says its armed forces “don’t damage Ukraine’s nuclear safety in any way and cause no obstacles to the plant’s operation.”