Russia has halted gas supplies to Europe

Russia shuts major gas pipeline to Europe, saying repairs are needed. The Russian state–owned energy giant, Gazprom, said the restrictions on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would last for the next three days, informs British broadcaster BCC.
Russia has already significantly reduced gas exports via the pipeline. It denies accusations it has used energy supplies as a weapon of war against Western countries.
The pipeline was shut down for 10 days in July – again for repairs, according to Russia – and has recently been operating at just 20% capacity because of what Russia describes as faulty equipment.
The president of Germany’s network regulator has said the country will be able to cope – if Russia resumes delivery in the coming days.

European leaders fear Russia could extend the outage in an attempt to drive up gas prices, which have already risen sharply in the past year.

The steep rise threatens to create a cost of living crisis over the winter months, potentially forcing governments to spend billions to ease the burden.
On Tuesday,30 August French Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier–Runacher accused Russia of «using gas as a weapon of war».
But Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has rejected the accusations – and insisted that Western sanctions have caused the interruptions by damaging Russian infrastructure.

He insisted that that «technological problems» caused by sanctions are the only thing preventing Russia from supplying gas via the pipeline.

However, he hasn’t specified  what were the problems.
Earlier this month, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said the pipeline was fully operational and said there were no technical issues as claimed by Russia.
Earlier this week, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised to intervene in energy markets.
«We need a new market model for electricity that really functions and brings us back into balance,» Ursula von der Leyen she said at the conference in Slovenia.
Before the conflict, Germany had approved the EUR 10 billions Nord Stream 2 pipeline – which runs parallel to its namesake – but halted operations after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February.
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline stretches 1,200 kilometers under the Baltic Sea from the Russian coast near St Petersburg to north–eastern Germany.