12 countries without Russian gas

Kadri Simson, the European Commissioner for Energy, said that 12 EU states are completely or partially deprived of Russian gas.

Simson added that Moscow’s behavior in recent weeks has exacerbated the risks.

The commissioner said in a statement to the Estonian newspaper “Postimees”, that the crisis has been severe since the beginning of last autumn, but that Russia’s behavior in recent weeks has greatly exacerbated the risks.

She explained that the EU crisis plan prepared at the beginning of the year can be useful at any time and that member states must be ready to implement their plans.

Simson noted that the EU reached an agreement last week to increase gas supplies with Israel and Egypt and strengthen cooperation with Norway and that direct negotiations with Azerbaijan are in their final stages.

The disagreement between the energy ministers is caused by issues related to the activities of the electricity market, as well as the expansion of nuclear energy activities, according to the commissioner.

The European Commissioner indicated that the commission cannot take a decision on this issue and that the selection of energy sources in accordance with the fundamental European treaties is the sovereign right of the Member States.

At the end of May, deliveries of Russian gas to Poland, Bulgaria, Finland and the Netherlands ceased, due to their refusal to accept the new settlement system proposed by Moscow.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on May 9 that counties that refused to pay for Russian gas under the new rules had already cut off their gas supplies.

On June 14, “Gazprom” announced that it had to reduce the gas supply via the “North Stream” gas pipelines for technical reasons.

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