“It will be necessary for the heads of European states to put the recently completed Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline into operation, otherwise the lives of their citizens will be further complicated”, the official wrote on Telegram.
The Nord Stream-2 was built to transport than 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year to Germany via the Baltic Sea, but its commissioning was frozen by Europe after its completion under pressure from the United States and following allegations of a likely use of gas as a means of influence (or a weapon, as it were) on the part of Russia.
“Europe has two options to get out of the situation that its own governments created: eliminate the illegal sanctions applied against Russia and put the Nord Stream-2 into operation, or leave everything as it is, worsening its economies and increasing the suffering of Europeans”, he estimated.
Volodin stated that in 2021 European states were buying 341 billion cubic meters of gas, of which 50 percent came from Russia via gas pipelines.
According to Volodin, President of France Emmanuel Macron tried to resolve the gas deficit problem during a recent visit to Algeria, but was unsuccessful. But even if Europe could count on supplies from Africa, the Middle East and gas-producing countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, it would be unable to supplant the 62.8 percent of its natural gas consumption that Russia guaranteed.
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