Sanctions on Russia are preventing Gazprom from operating North Stream 1, the only one bringing Russian gas to Germany after the forced closure of its sister pipeline, North Stream 2. The Kremlin reports that “Sanctions imposed by the EU, UK, US and Canada have disrupted the technical maintenance system of turbine components that ensured pumping.”
The U.S.-EU strategy is clear: to prevent Europe from receiving Russian gas at low prices due to the long-term agreements previously made with Russia, forcing European consumers to buy it on the spot market at extremely higher prices set according to speculative and political mechanisms by the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, which is now part of a large U.S. holding company.
The only pipeline that regularly transports Russian gas to Europe is the TurkStream, via the Black Sea and the Balkans. Hungary, which opposes EU sanctions (despite being part of the EU and NATO), has signed a long-term agreement with Gazprom to receive 80 percent of the gas it needs from Russia through this pipeline.
However, there are growing tensions in the Balkans, especially against Serbia through which TurkStream passes, caused by NATO’s long hands, which could lead to the blocking of this last pipeline from Russia as well.
This situation is part of an increasingly explosive political-military scenario. The new British premier Liz Truss declares herself “ready to use nuclear weapons.”
A further danger is caused by the fact that Ukrainian forces – armed, trained and de facto commanded by NATO – are firing guns supplied to them by NATO and the EU on the Zaparozhye nuclear power plant currently under Russian control, exposing Italy and Europe to the very serious risk of a new Chernobyl.
The International Atomic Energy Agency warns: “With the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant we are playing with fire and something very, very catastrophic could happen” .
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This article was originally published on byoblu.
Manlio Dinucci, award winning author, geopolitical analyst and geographer, Pisa, Italy. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).The original source of this article is Global ResearchCopyright © Manlio Dinucci, Global Research, 2022
Source: globalresearch.ca