Russian envoy Alipov blames Germany for halting cooperation with Russia in Gazprom’s suspension of natural gas

New Delhi [India], December 27 (ANI): Pointing to the ‘false narrative’ being circulated, Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov refuted media reports holding Gazprom responsible for the suspension of natural gas and said ‘Germany has voluntarily chosen to halter cooperation with Moscow.’

Sharing the media report on his Twitter account, Alipov said, “The author blames Gazprom for supply cuts whereas it was Germany’s decision to snatch those shipments to replenish own dwindling reserves thru seizing control over Gazprom subsidiary.”

“Those too were happening because Germany voluntarily chose to halter cooperation with Russia. BTW, grain cargos from Ukraine mostly land on European shores while Russia is accused of starving Africa. Reality vs narrative,” he added.

Germany has announced that it will nationalize the former subsidiary of Gazprom, as its relationship with Russia got disturbed. With this decision, the country takes measures to secure its energy needs as it breaks away from Russian reliance, German news agency reported.

Notably, nationalization is done when the relationship between two countries doesn’t fall on a good road.

The new company, previously Gazprom Germania, is called Securing Energy for Europe GmbH (SEFE). It indirectly controls the country’s largest gas storage facility in northwestern Rehden.

The government of Germany argues that the move is necessary to protect its energy security amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

The relationship between Russia and Germany has deteriorated since the start of the Ukraine war on February 24. It got more strained after the leaks were found in Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 under the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark’s Bornholm island.

After the suspicious leaks of pipelines running from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, people were suspecting of possible sabotage. German sources and Russian authorities said they were not ruling out an act of sabotage.

German security sources said the cause of the incidents had not been clarified, but there were indications of sabotage. Only a state actor could mount such an intervention due to its technical complexity, the sources said as quoted by DPA.

After the reports surfaced, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin is “extremely worried” about the suspected leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 Baltic Sea pipelines and urged the United Nations Security Council to hold an emergency meeting over the acts of sabotage on Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.

Taking to Twitter, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia said, “#Zakharova: Russia has requested that the UN Security Council hold an emergency meeting on the provocations against #NordStream1 and #NordStream2 pipelines, to be held tomorrow, on Friday. We will push for an honest investigation.”