<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1656616997607,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000172-ebac-d265-adff-fffc847c0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1656616997607,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000172-ebac-d265-adff-fffc847c0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_56616992", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1043934"} }); ","_id":"00000181-b610-d578-a1dd-bebe73aa0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedGerman Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said Thursday that Russia could be using planned maintenance work on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline as a “pretext” for blocking gas delivery to Europe for the foreseeable future.
Habeck said during an event organized by the German newspaper Sueddeutsche that he believes a full “blockade” of Nord Stream 1 is possible beginning July 11, when Russia is slated to shut down the pipeline for planned maintenance work.
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He noted that such work has previously entailed shutting the pipeline down for a roughly 10-day period.
“But given the pattern we have seen, it wouldn’t be so super surprising if some little technical detail is found and then they say, ‘We can’t switch it on again. Now we found something during maintenance, and that’s it,’” Habeck said.
Habeck’s remarks come less than a month after Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom announced a 40% reduction in natural gas delivery to Germany. At the time, Gazprom blamed the reductions on Western sanctions, which it said have halted delivery of a part it needs to repair the pipeline.
But that assertion has been dismissed by German leaders, including Habeck, who said earlier this month: “We have established, in close consultation with the European Commission, that the maintenance problems are not related to the sanctions.”
“We are in a gas trade dispute with Putin, and this won’t stop, even if the turbine does come from Canada,” he said Thursday, referring to the part that ostensibly needs repair.
Instead, Habeck and others have characterized the cutoff as a political strategy from Moscow, saying after news of the reduction: “This is not the beginning but a continuation of a trend of a step-by-step operation as gas flows to different countries are cut.”
Motivations aside, officials and analysts warn that a prolonged shutoff would likely have “seismic” ramifications for Europe, which relies heavily on Russian gas supplies, and could put the European Union’s winter storage targets at risk.
Germany activated the second in its three-stage emergency plan for natural gas supplies last week, with officials warning that the country is at risk of a supply “crisis.” On Thursday, Habeck said his country is continuing to store gas, albeit at roughly half the rate it was before Gazprom announced the Nord Stream 1 reductions.
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“The situation is certainly tight,” he said.
To that end, Habeck stressed the need for Europe to continue to ramp up its natural gas storage and expedite his country’s efforts to develop two liquified natural gas terminals, which had been slated for completion by year’s end.
