Counteracts allegations that he artificially pushed up gas prices in Europe for his political goals.
(Photo: AP)
Moscow Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the gas valves to be opened again in November to ease the energy crisis in Europe. He instructed the state-owned company Gazprom on Wednesday to increase deliveries to Germany and Austria as soon as the underground storage facilities in Russia are replenished, the Tass agency reported.
Gazprom boss Alexei Miller said that his company could start after November 8th. Russian state media have already celebrated Putin as the savior of Europe.
Recently, the Kremlin chief had repeatedly pointed out that deliveries in excess of the contractually agreed quantities had already been made, but considered further steps to be difficult. In addition, in view of the record gas prices, he had repeatedly promoted the rapid commissioning of the controversial Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline.
Critics, however, accuse Gazprom of not having reacted to the increased European demand in order to force the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline to go into operation quickly. The Russian side had denied such allegations. Rather, it accuses the EU of having neglected to refill its gas storage facilities in time after the cold of last winter.
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Putin had advertised a quick commissioning of Nord Stream 2 several times. The Federal Network Agency has until the beginning of January to decide on an operating permit for the 1230-kilometer-long pipes, which are supposed to deliver up to 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia to Germany annually.
More: Russia – not an enemy for a cold gas war