France today accused Moscow of using energy supplies as"a weapon of war" as Russian gas giant Gazprom reduced deliveries to one of its main utilities and prepared to halt flows along the major pipeline to Germany from tomorrow.
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the main conduit for Russian gas into Europe, has become a flash point in the economic war between Moscow and Brussels. But France's Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said today:"Very clearly Russia is using gas as a weapon of war and we must prepare for the worst case scenario of a complete interruption of supplies."
"There are guarantees that, apart from technological problems caused by sanctions, nothing hinders the supplies," the Kremlin's Peskov said when asked if there are guarantees that Gazprom will restart gas flows via Nord Stream 1.Germany, Europe's largest economy, is open to discussing a price-cap scheme on gas supplies at a European level, a source in Italy said, citing a text message Germany's economy minister sent to his colleagues across Europe.
Such a move would allow European households to get the benefits from electricity produced from cheaper sources such as renewables.