Russia | Putin promises to fill gas supplies “completely” and demands the removal of grain restrictions

Russian president Vladimir Putin promised the night before Wednesday that the Russian energy giant Gazprom would fulfill all its obligations “fully”, reported news agency AFP.

At the same time, Putin mocked the West for relying on green energy.

Especially in Germany, there has been concern about whether Russia will reduce gas supplies in retaliation for the EU sanctions that have been imposed on Russia after the country attacked Ukraine.

Russia has already reduced and cut off gas supplies. The Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline leading to Germany is, for example, on a ten-day maintenance break, and the fear is that Russia will continue the break even longer.

Gazprom has also suspended gas supplies to several European countries, including Finland, Poland, Bulgaria and the Netherlands.

By reducing gas flow step by step Russia also increases the price of gas, so it does not lose export income in the same proportion as Europe loses gas.

“Russia is trying to make the situation as difficult as possible for Europe, while trying to keep part of the income it gets from oil and gas exports, i.e. not completely stop exporting gas”, University of Helsinki professor Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen assessed to STT previously.

Putin also demanded, according to AFP, that the West should withdraw the restrictions imposed on Russian grain exports, so that Russia would agree to enable the export of Ukrainian grain.

The war between the two countries, which are among the world’s largest grain exporters, has caused fears of famine and unrest, especially in countries in the Middle East and Africa that depend on their food exports.

Russia has also been accused of selling grain stolen from Ukraine during the war.

Russia’s Putin spoke to reporters in Tehran at a conference organized by Iran, in connection with which the countries, together with Turkey, among other things, discussed their plans for the war in Syria.