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The spigot on Europe’s largest gas pipeline funneling Russian gas into the bloc closed at 6 a.m. Monday for a ten-day maintenance, and almost no one believes it will be turned back on as scheduled.
Repairs on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline—which carries 55 billion cubic meters of gas each year from Russia across the Baltic Sea into Germany—are expected to give the Kremlin an opportunity to show just how reliant Europe is on Russian gas. An extended closure will undoubtedly also underscore the hypocrisy of sanctions—which exempt Russian gas—that have for the most part meant Russia is actually earning more on fuel exports than in the last decade.
Russia’s Gazprom also suddenly reduced gas flow by a third into Italy on Monday, citing unplanned repair work, which means one of the backup pipelines for Nord Stream’s scheduled maintenance is also drying up.
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