The Russian gas giant will reduce its deliveries to France, Italy, Germany and Austria.
The boss of the Russian gas giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller, defended Thursday the choices of his group, which continues to lower its deliveries to Europe in the context of the Russian offensive in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Moscow. “Our product, our rules. We don’t play by rules we didn’t make“, declared Alexei Miller during the economic forum of Saint-Petersburg. “Russia is a reliable energy supplier for Friends of Russia“, he added, a variation of the creed repeated by Gazprom for years on the reliability of the group for its customers.
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Russian gas exports to Europe have been steadily declining since the start of Western sanctions against Moscow. If the European Union seeks to get rid of its energy dependence on Russia, Gazprom has taken the lead in interrupting its gas deliveries to several European customers who refused to pay in rubles, as the Kremlin is now demanding. . Added to this is the 60% drop this week in the gas delivered to Europe by the Nord Stream gas pipeline, Gazprom assuring that this is due to difficulties with turbines from the German group Siemens caused by Western sanctions.
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“Today there is no way to solveThis situation, said Alexei Miller, assuring that “Siemens remains silent“. “Yes, we have a decrease in supplies to Europe“, he said, assuring that “in the very near future, the demand for liquid natural gas (LNG) in the Asia-Pacific market will grow“. Sending a claw to the Europeans, he assured that the latter “said long-term contracts are not necessary, so they are not necessary…we have fulfilled our obligations to you“. Revenues from Russia were not affected by this fall in deliveries, due to the surge in gas prices. The Kremlin never ceases to affirm that the decisions of European leaders affect above all their own populations.
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