The head of the European Council Michel commented on the stop of the Nord Stream

MOSCOW, 3 Sep — PRIME. The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, commenting on the stop of the Nord Stream, said that this decision did not come as a “surprise” and would not change the EU’s resolve on the path to “energy independence”.

On Friday, Gazprom said that it had received a warning from Rostekhnadzor about a malfunction of the only remaining working engine for the pipeline and that the pipeline was completely stopped until the comments were eliminated. According to Gazprom, an oil leak was discovered during maintenance work at the Trent 60 gas compressor unit (GPA No. 24) of the Portovaya compressor station, carried out jointly with representatives of Siemens. Oil was found on equipment that is part of the engine. The oil leak detection report was also signed by representatives of Siemens. Gazprom sent a letter to Siemens about the identified malfunctions on the only operating engine for Nord Stream and the need to eliminate them. At the same time, a Siemens Energy representative told RIA Novosti that the company took note of Gazprom’s message and believes that its conclusion is not a technical reason for terminating the operation of the pipeline.

“Gazprom’s actions, unfortunately, did not come as a surprise. The use of gas as a weapon will not change the resolve of the EU. We will accelerate our path to energy independence,” Michel wrote on Twitter.

In turn, the representative of the press service of the European Commission, Eric Mamer, accused Russia of cynicism and suggested that by doing so it allegedly confirms its “unreliability as a supplier.”

The Russian side has repeatedly denied accusations of using gas or oil “as a weapon”.

After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the West stepped up sanctions pressure on Russia, which led to an increase in prices for electricity, fuel and food in Europe and the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the policy of containment and weakening of Russia is a long-term strategy of the West, and the sanctions dealt a serious blow to the entire global economy. According to him, the main goal of the West is to worsen the lives of millions of people.

Nord Stream has been operating with restrictions since mid-June, and since the end of July, it has been operating at only 20% of its nearly 170 million cubic meters of capacity per day. The Russian side emphasized that the decrease in supplies was due solely to sanctions, which caused problems with the maintenance and repair of Siemens gas pumping units. Recently, only one turbine provided work.