German FM: Europe not to lift sanctions in exchange for Russian gas

German Minister for Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock has said that the crisis situation with gas supplies will not become a reason for easing sanctions pressure on Russia.

The suspension of gas supplies via Nord Stream is blackmail, and the Russian side resorts to lifting sanctions, Kommersant quotes Baerbock as saying.

“Now our sanctions, which allegedly prevent further gas supplies, are opposed. We should say that we will not succumb,” she said while delivering a speech at the German Federal Foreign Office on September 6.

The diplomat noted that Russia poses a threat to Germany's energy security, which can be eliminated only through "complete liberation from dependence on fossil fuel".

She also said that Germany has previously paid much for gas to Russia at the cost of weakening national security.

“Gas from Russia has made the German economy dependent,” the minister added.

Meanwhile, the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov said on September 5 that Nord Stream would resume work after the Western sanctions on Russia are lifted.

“The Western countries’ sanctions resulted in such a situation,” Peskov said.

Russia’s Gazprom company explains the shutdown of the gas pipeline by technical problems and the impossibility of a full repair of equipment due to Western sanctions.