Nothing prevents delivery of Siemens turbine to Russia: Germany
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Germany says there is nothing preventing the delivery of the Siemens turbine to Russia in light of a crisis between the two over the delivery of equipment following their maintenance.
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A gas turbine, possibly similar to the one sent by Germany for maintenance in Canada
Berlin does not see any obstacles to delivering a Siemens turbine to Russia and perceived Moscow's actions to be a "political struggle" German government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann said Wednesday.
"As before, we see no technical reason for this. The turbine is here. It has been repaired. Our Canadian partners agreed on the delivery of the turbine, and we are grateful to them for this," Hoffman highlighted.
"Nothing prevents the delivery of the turbine [to Russia], from our point of view. What we see (the reduction of Russian gas supplies) is a political struggle and we are not impressed by this," she told a press briefing.
It is wrong to link the level of Russian gas supplies to Europe with the removal of EU sanctions against Moscow but the restrictions affected Gazprom’s delivery volumes, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said earlier in the day.
Bloomberg reported that Russia planned to keep gas deliveries at a minimal level until the European Union lifts the sanctions it imposed on Moscow.
Peskov, however, clarified that this was due to the process of maintenance of various units being incredibly difficult due to the restrictions and sanctions that Europe has imposed.
Moscow had repeatedly warned that further maintenance delays could result in a complete shutdown of gas flows via the pipeline network.
The spokesperson added that Gazprom remains a "reliable" supplier but can not guarantee required delivery volumes "if imported equipment maintenance is not possible due to European sanctions."
Gazprom deputy chairman Vitaly Markelov made the revelation that Gazprom had no issues when it came to receiving Siemens turbines for Nord Stream after maintenance before the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia as the gas giant is still waiting for a delivery that was scheduled for May.
According to Markelov, Gazprom had no issues "before sanctions against Russia were imposed."
"The situation today is completely different. Back in May, we expected to receive one repaired engine from Siemens. But to date, we have not received this engine," Markelov told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.
Markelov also clarified that the Siemens manufacturing company does not repair damaged engines for the Nord Stream pipeline.
"Another issue is related to damaged engines … Siemens’ work does not solve these problems," he said.
Earlier this month, Canadian Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the Nord Stream 1 turbines sent to Canada for maintenance would be returned to Germany instead of Russia due to the anti-Moscow sanctions.
The situation prompted Russian gas giant Gazprom to reveal on Wednesday that it had not a single document allowing German conglomerate Siemens to take a gas turbine engine for the Portovaya compressor station from Canada.
Gazprom reduced on June 16 gas pipeline deliveries to 40% of its capacity, explaining this by problems with the maintenance of gas turbines at Portovaya. Nord Stream has since stopped until July 21 for scheduled maintenance.
