By stopping Nord Stream-1, Russia committed an act of economic aggression against Ukraine's allies. Economic expert Maksym Bielawski shares his opinion on the air of FREEDOM TV channel.
"Of course, this is blackmail. At most, I would even say, it is a fact of economic aggression against Ukraine's allies. The goal is simple — to tighten the grip on Ukraine's allies and to limit financial and technical capabilities of the countries friendly to us," he says.
Maksym Bielawski voiced the facts that testify to economic aggression.
"First of all, the Caspian oil pipeline, through which Kazakh oil is transported to the Black Sea ports of Krasnodarsky Krai, is stopped, while Nord Stream is being repaired. They not only limit transportation of natural gas — the same is happening with oil transportation," the expert says.
He noted that for the shutdown of both Nord Stream-1 and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, rather strange technical reasons were found that sound far-fetched to people with some experience in the branch.
"For example, in the case of Nord Stream-1, they refer to the need of repair and diagnostic maintenance of one turbine that remained at a compressor station. But at the same time, Russia refuses to receive additional turbines, which were delivered for maintenance two months earlier, because then there will be no reason for the complete shutdown of Nord Stream-1, and, accordingly, no opportunity of economic pressure on prices in the European Union, which affects adjacent energy markets. For example, an increase in spot prices in Austria and Germany leads to a corresponding increase in electricity prices," the expert pointed out.
Bielawski added that September energy prices, one way or another, will deepen the economic recession of the EU countries, thus slowing down the pace of development and the availability of financial resources.
"In my opinion, three days after Nord Stream-1 is put in operation, maybe after about a thousand hours of the gas turbine operation, according to regulatory requirements, Gazprom will once again stop Nord Stream for alleged routine technical maintenance. And there can be many such reasons for further stoppages," he says.
The expert believes that by all appearances, the heating season will pass with minimal deliveries of Russian gas to the European market.
Source:
