Putin announces energy price increase

The EU imposed sanctions on Moscow and blocked supply routes but is now blaming Gazprom for the gas shortages, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

Russia is ready to supply as much gas as Europe needs if the EU wants to stop “step on the rake” Putin said during a visit to Tehran for a summit with the presidents of Iran and Turkey.

“What does Gazprom have to do with it? They closed one route, the second route, imposed sanctions on those gas pumping stations.” said Putin when asked about the current gas shortage in Germany.

“Gazprom is ready to pump as much as necessary, but [the West] everything closed itself. And they are stepping in the same direction when it comes to oil and petroleum products.” added the Russian President.

The Russian gas giant has always fulfilled its contractual obligations, Putin added, blaming Gazprom “completely unfounded” and an attempt by Western countries to do so “Put the blame for your own mistakes” on Russia.

Repeating what he said last month about the EU’s energy policy, Putin said the bloc had spent the last decade neglecting energy policy “traditional energy” Sector – coal, oil, gas and nuclear – in favor of “green” projects like wind and solar.

“Banks don’t finance, insurance companies don’t insure, local governments don’t allocate land for new developments, pipelines and other transportation aren’t developed.” said Putin. “You can now see the result.”

Western nations are “great experts in the field of non-traditional relationships”, said the Russian President, so they decided to invest in “non-traditional types of energy” also. “The winter was long. There was no wind. That’s all.”

Gazprom is said to have informed its customers on Monday that it has been unable to supply natural gas to Germany since July 14 due to force majeure.

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline was shut down for annual maintenance and required a Siemens turbine that had been sent to Canada for repairs. Ottawa, however, stopped the turbine citing US and its allies’ sanctions against Russia. She has reportedly changed her mind at the request of Berlin. The pipeline should be back in normal operation by Thursday.

Germany had also rejected Russia’s offer to divert supplies through Nord Stream 2, the second pipeline under the Baltic Sea, on the grounds that the pipeline was not legally allowed to operate. Berlin indefinitely suspended certification of the pipeline in February before the Russian military operation in Ukraine.