Less gas from Russia arrives in Germany. Technical problems are said to be the reason for this, claims supplier Gazprom. But the government doesn’t think so. Chancellor Scholz does not want to speculate either.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz considers the Russian justification for the throttling of gas supplies to Germany to be false. “None of us believe that the technical reasons given by Russian suppliers for the reduction in gas supplies are correct,” said Scholz after an EU summit in Brussels.
Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom cut gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in the Baltic Sea in the middle of the month. The gas supplier justified the step with delays in repair work. A 10-day routine maintenance of the pipeline will begin on July 11.
Energy supplier and Economics Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens are concerned that Gazprom Nord Stream 1 may not restart afterwards. When asked if he feared that Russia would no longer supply gas after that, Habeck said on RTL: “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid.”
Scholz, on the other hand, did not want to speculate. “But speculating about what will happen when doesn’t make any sense,” he said when asked if he feared the Nord Stream 1 pipeline might not be restarted after maintenance work.
