“If the Europeans decided absolutely absurdly to refuse (.) the service of equipment owned by Gazprom, the maintenance of which is otherwise a contractual obligation, then this is not the fault of Gazprom, but of the politicians who made the decision on sanctions,” Peskov said.
“It is precisely these unfortunate politicians who are causing their compatriots to have a fatal stroke when they see their electricity bills. Now that it’s colder, the situation is only going to get worse,” he added.
In his opinion, the Russian gas company has not taken a single step that could shake its reputation as a reliable supplier, which has been entrenched over decades.
Regarding the future of relations between Russia and the European Union, he believed that all confrontations will end with a détente, just as crisis situations usually end at the negotiating table, but this is unlikely to happen soon. He stated that the EU would have to take Russia’s interests into account during the dialogue.
Speaking on the same programme, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak expressed his belief that Europe’s short-sighted policy led to the collapse of energy markets, and that the continent could receive an unpredictable winter with the onset of cold weather. Regarding the suspension of operation of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, he noted that the service and return of the turbine, which is currently in Germany and repaired in Canada, must comply with the terms of the contract.
In Russia, heating and lighting are guaranteed even in cold weather he added. According to Novak, gas in Russia is currently forty times cheaper than in Europe, which is an absolute competitive advantage.
Gazprom announced on Friday that during a maintenance operation it discovered an oil leak in the last turbine on Nord Stream, so it will not resume gas deliveries through the pipeline on Saturday, as was originally planned, but will suspend it completely.
By the way, Peskov warned on the TV show that Russia will certainly respond to the EU visa restrictions, taking into account its own interests, in an unequal or symmetrical way. He also stated that the West is only one part of the world, and Russia still has many other places where it has the opportunity to do business and create new channels of cooperation.
Cover image source: Getty Images
