German minister Habeck calls limited gas supply from Russia an “economic attack” | Abroad

“What we saw last week has a different dimension. The decline in gas deliveries via Nord Stream is an attack against us,” Habeck said in a speech to the industrial sector in Berlin. He had previously spoken of a strategy by Russian President Vladimir Putin “to worry us, drive prices up and divide us.”

The Russian state gas company Gazprom has significantly reduced the gas flow through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. “Out of necessity,” said Gazprom. The cause would be the late repair of part of the infrastructure by the German Siemens.

There were also disapproving voices from Ukraine on Tuesday. The top man of the Ukrainian energy supplier Naftogaz spoke of Russian blackmail. “This is a clear example of how the Russians are testing Europe’s weakness,” he said.

The German government, meanwhile, is preparing to declare the alert phase of the national gas supply emergency plan, the newspaper ‘Welt’ reported. The energy sector was informed of this on Tuesday, as was also confirmed to the German agency dpa by sources from the sector.

According to Welt, the energy suppliers assume that the alarm phase will be officially announced within five to ten days. The German Ministry of Economy does not comment on speculation. A spokeswoman said only “security of supply is currently guaranteed, but the situation is serious”.

The alarm phase is the second of three steps in the emergency plan. The first phase, the so-called early warning, was activated at the end of March. The second phase, according to the plan, will involve a gas supply failure or excessive demand for gas, leading to a “significant deterioration in the gas supply condition.”

After the alert phase, there is another emergency phase, where the state must intervene to ensure that protected customers, such as the families, continue to receive gas.