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Putin: Russia could send Nord Stream gas to Black Sea for gas hub in Turkey

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia could redirect Nord Stream gas supplies to the Black Sea, and even set up a major gas hub for Europe in Turkey.

Speaking at the Moscow Energy Week conference, Putin said that Russia would continue to expand the geography of its gas supplies, while also moving further towards making energy supply settlements in local currencies. [Reuters]

He added. among others, that Russia Moscow is ready to resume gas supplies to Europe via a link of the Germany-bound Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea.

Putin again charged that the US was likely behind the explosions that ripped through both links of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and one of the two links of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, causing a massive gas leak and taking them out of service.

The US has previously rejected similar allegations by Putin. Several European governments said the undersea explosions that ripped through both Nord Stream pipelines were likely caused by sabotage but stopped short of assigning blame.

The Russian leader has repeatedly taunted the West by raising the prospect of sending gas through Nord Stream 2, a political nonstarter for the German government and others.

Reaffirming a claim that he made last week, Putin said that the attack on the pipelines was launched by those who wanted to weaken Europe by halting the flow of cheap gas from Russia.

While Russia is still pumping gas to Europe via Ukraine, the explosions on the Baltic pipelines have exacerbated acute energy shortages faced by Europe before the winter season.

Plunging Russian gas supplies have caused prices to soar, driving inflation, pressuring governments to help ease the pain of sky-high energy bills for households and businesses and raising fears of rationing and recession.

Putin said that one of the two links of the Nord Stream 2 has remained pressurized and appears to be ready for service, adding that its capacity stands at 27 billion cubic meters a year. He noted that if checks prove that the pipeline is safe to operate, Russia stands ready to use it to pump gas to Europe.

Putin again scoffed at Western plans to cap prices for Russian energy exports, saying that “Russia won’t act against common sense and pay the other’s welfare.”

“We won’t supply energy to the countries that would cap the prices,” he said. “I would like to warn those, who instead of business partnership and market mechanisms try to use con tricks and blunt blackmail, that we won’t do anything to our own detriment.”

with info from Reuters and AP

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2 comments

  1. Russia creating a gas hub in Turkey ! If that happens we will all be going “cap in hand” to Turkey or else that will shut the gas off..Clever ploy by Putin to disrupt the EU.

  2. Yep, interesting development, not sure this will be beneficial to Europe.

    For the record; a previous reply (very assertive!) to one of my posts to someone, who i believe misunderstood the points i was making;
    1) I am not a Russian
    2) Troll, partially correct, probably about 10%
    3) No i do not wish to partake with any physical activity with Putin. He would not be someone i would invite to dinner.
    4) “Stop commenting here”. I am not in Russia so i hope i have the opportunity to carry on depending on how KTG moderates.

    If you think i am a Russian troll you are mistaken. I try to make my short quirps (probably without the humour) here that are non offensive. There are plenty of MSM sites where the views (comments) are somewhat more pronounced to either pro / against certain policies where there certainly are state agitators.