Putin says Russia can supply EU with gas via Nord Stream 2

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russian gas could still be supplied to Europe through one remaining intact part of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline but the ball was now in the EU’s court on whether it wanted that to happen.

An international investigation is under way into explosions last month that ruptured the Russian-built Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines on the bed of the Baltic Sea.

Putin said it was possible to repair the pipelines but that Russia and Europe should decide their fate.

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Three of the Nord Stream pipelines are damaged. That leaves only one line of Nord Stream 2, which has an annual capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters, functional.

Russia, Putin said, could open the gas taps on that line if Europe wanted it to.

The pipelines, which have become a flashpoint in the Ukraine crisis, have been leaking gas into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark and Sweden.

Europe suspects an act of sabotage that Moscow quickly sought to pin on the West, suggesting the United States stood to gain.

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