Germany cannot refuse Russian gas. Germany needs to help end the conflict over Ukraine and start economic cooperation with Russia. This opinion was expressed by the Prime Minister of Saxony, a representative of the Christian Democratic Union Michael Kretschmer on September 23 in an interview Funke.
“We must try with all our might to end this conflict. [на Украине] and then re-start economic cooperation with Russia. The weapon must be silent. The world community should advocate for this conflict to be resolved through diplomacy. Russia and Ukraine should return to the negotiating table,” he said.
In his opinion, after the situation is resolved, the German authorities should return to buying Russian gas, and in the current situation, this “is not possible.” He added that “it’s not enough just to save money” and hope for a warm winter.
In addition, German journalists reported on September 20 that Germany’s major operators – gas suppliers – are unwilling to connect residents to basic tariffs in favor of more expensive services. However, energy expert Holger Schneidewindt said that any consumer has the right to terminate the contract if he is not satisfied with energy bills and switch to the base tariff.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on September 13 that he was proud of the fact that Germany could become independent of Russian gas when a new LNG terminal was launched in the country in January 2023. According to him, liquefied gas can be delivered by ships to the coast of Northern Germany, and then pumped through the German pipeline to gas storage facilities.
Russian Ambassador to Berlin Sergei Nechaev said in an interview with Izvestia a day earlier that Germany is unlikely to be able to completely abandon Russian gas in the short term. According to Nechaev, now producers selling gas on the spot market send it to where they offer a higher price. At the same time, the diplomat noted that Russia, in turn, is ready to start supplying gas through the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline even tomorrow.
Back in April, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the refusal of a number of Western countries from normal cooperation with Moscow, as well as from part of Russian energy resources, had already hit the West. He noted that prices are rising everywhere and inflation is going through the roof. According to the President, it is absolutely unprecedented for these countries.
#Germany #recognizes #impossibility #refusing #Russian #gas