Russian President Putin puts blame on Germany for Europe gas crisis

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Germany was reselling Russian gas to Poland and Ukraine rather than relieving an overheated market, adding Moscow was not to blame for Europe’s gas price crisis. European spot gas prices hit another all-time high this week after the Yamal pipeline that normally brings Russian gas to heat homes and power electricity generation in Germany reversed direction and started to flow into Poland.

Germany receives Russian gas through several routes, including Yamal and the undersea Nord Stream 1 pipeline, and two major German customers said this week that Russian supplier Gazprom was meeting its contractual obligations.

“Gazprom is supplying all volumes requested under existing contracts,” Putin said during his annual news conference. Russia has consistently defended its long-term contracts, saying they guarantee stable volumes and prices. When it sees requests, Gazprom buys extra export capacity, which is in addition to long-term deals, at auctions which is for delivery through the Yamal pipeline and Ukraine. Putin also endorsed the Bank of Russia’s hawkish policies to battle inflation, saying the country could end up facing an economic crisis like Turkey’s if it failed to raise interest rates.