The German Ministry of Economics announced in a statement that it would “take emergency action to secure its gas supplies in the face of a reduction in volumes in Russia,” explaining that “to reduce gas consumption, less gas must be used to generate electricity.” electricity. Consequently, existing power plants will have to use more charcoal.

Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz indicated that his country would do everything possible to eliminate the technical reasons that led to a reduction in Russian gas supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream gas pipeline. “So far, we are seeing a drop in supplies to Germany and other Western European countries, which is due to technical problems,” he said in an interview with DPA. “It may be an accident, but we will avoid it.”

Schultz explained that “there is a political motive behind this situation”, stressing that “the reduction in supplies to Germany was not due to technical reasons.” On June 14, the Russian Gazprom announced a 40 percent reduction in the volume of gas pumped through Nord Stream due to a shortage of pumps serviced by the German company Siemens.