G7, EU to ban restart of Russian gas pipelines: report

The G7 and EU will ban Russian gas imports on routes where Moscow has cut supplies, the Financial Times reported on Sunday citing officials involved in the negotiations.

The decision, which is to be finalized by G7 leaders at a summit in Hiroshima next week, will prevent the resumption of Russian pipeline gas exports on routes to countries such as Poland and Germany.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the problems with the gas supply to Europe through the Nord Stream-1 pipeline had been caused by Western sanctions on Moscow.

Putin added that any attempts to blame Moscow for Europe’s energy woes are cynical, given the closure by the authorities of the respective countries of gas supplies through Ukraine and Poland and the refusal to allow Nord Stream-2 operations.

The energy crisis in the EU worsened at the beginning of July when the first disruptions of gas supplies from Russia to a number of European states appeared. In particular, this was triggered by technical and maintenance issues around the Nord Stream pipeline’s turbines from the US-led West sanctions.

After that, the European Commission called on the EU countries to prepare in advance for a complete halt of Russian gas supplies. It also introduced a plan to voluntarily reduce gas consumption by all member-states by 15% from August 1, 2022, until March 31, 2023.

Nord Stream-1 is one of the main routes for gas supplies from Russia to Europe, but due to difficulties with the servicing of its turbines, it’s now used only at a fraction of its capacity. The Nord Stream-2 pipeline has been completed but has not been put into operation, also because of sanctions against Russia.

AMK/PR