After Rapid-Fire “Blame Putin” Headlines, European Commission Quietly Affirms Russia Is Not Manipulating Gas Market
Putin earlier this week batted down as “utter nonsense” widespread accusations among Western media pundits that Europe’s energy crisis is due to the Kremlin using gas as a ‘geopolitical weapon’. It now appears the European Commission is quietly agreeing with him. This as Nord Stream 2, which Washington has long battled to stop, is awaiting final approval from German regulators begore going online.
As the Economist summarized of the ongoing accusations: “Russia is responding to a view gaining currency in European capitals that Gazprom, the state-controlled energy goliath that is the continent’s biggest supplier, has been stoking the continent’s energy crisis by withholding exports of natural gas. European parliamentarians are demanding that Gazprom be investigated for not shipping more gas, allegedly as a ploy to secure final regulatory approval for the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline designed to ship Russian gas to Germany.”
A somewhat exasperated Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov last week noted Gazprom has fulfilled its current obligations to the maximum extent possible under existing contracts: “Nothing can be delivered beyond the contracts. How? For free? It is a matter of negotiating with Gazprom,” he said.
Of course, the somewhat sensational headline-grabbing accusations are what dominated press reports for much of the week, with new Friday comments from the European Commission getting buried. Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans indicated there’s no reason to believe Russia is manipulating the market.
Timmermans bluntly said the following in an interview with Bulgarian broadcaster bTV:
“Russia is fulfilling its gas supply contracts.” He added that “we have no reason to believe it is putting pressure on the market or manipulating it.”
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