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The only time supplies were cut to zero was for the annual maintenance which happens in the summer every single year, and the pipeline is always shut down for t

The only time supplies were cut to zero was for the annual maintenance which happens in the summer every single year, and the pipeline is always shut down for that. Go look at the history of Nord Stream flow rates (on their website) to see that this is true if you don't believe me. The technical problems are real. A western company (German even) received a compressor turbine, repaired it and then sat on it due to sanctions. Germany got the sanctions voided for that equipment and it was shipped it back to Russia. If the problems weren't real we can assume it would have been discovered at that point. Also remember that the whole point of imposing sanctions on Russia is to degrade their factories and ability to repair complex equipment! Industrial disruption due to inability to access foreign parts and repair services is exactly what the sanctions were meant to create and yet when it happens, media and government claim there can be no possible wear and tear on huge pieces of rapidly spinning equipment, so it must all be 4D chess. Russia did not "demand unilateral changes to gas contracts". It's the other way around. Europe sanctioned Russia and then stole all their EUR foreign reserves, an unprecedented and highly hostile move. Because Russia could no longer transact in EUR they said, OK, you'll have to pay us for gas in rubles. Given this they could theoretically have said you're violating your contracts which say you'll pay us in EUR, so we won't supply any gas until you un-sanction us, but they didn't. So, every claim you're making here is wrong and this can be checked against documented facts and sources that aren't connected to Russia. This is a core part of the problem with what's happening. The media lies and simply makes things up. People believe it anyway. Did Russiagate teach us nothing? What Russia is doing is bad but telling ourselves a bunch of nonsensical fairy tales will only make the situation worse.

rich_sasha 4y ago
Well, it's economic warfare and two are playing this game. But Russia is certainly not innocent here. Russian funds were indeed frozen, but with the exception of banks processing gas payments so that can go ahead. Russia went further than asset freezes, and nationalised swathes of Western property in Russia, like leased aeroplanos for example. By EU countries laws, frozen Russian assets are to be returned at some point and cannot eg be used by other parties in the meantime. Whereas Russia declared a lot if Western assets their own property now. I agree it's awkward, the West couldn't expect Russia to not respond to the sanctions. So in the narrow context of gas exports it's not simply "bad Russia good West", but Russia is clearly an active belligerent in this economic conflict.
- menotyou 4y ago
  > Russian funds were indeed frozen, but with the exception of banks processing gas payments so that can go ahead. This is not correct. You have to understand that "money" at commercial banks is not money, but only a debt of that commercial bank with the account holder. Gas and other commodities are always paid in real money, which exists only in to flavors: Paper money and accounts directly at the respective central banks. This means you can have your real USD only on accounts at the FED and real Euros only at ECB etc. The West froze Russian accounts on EZB (the contracts are nominated to be paid in EUR) and at the same time wanted to pay the gas only on these accounts, which for obvious reasons was rejected by Russia. Russia requested to have their accounts unfrozen or paid in Rubels. There was some face saving detours introduced into the payment process, but in the end the West pays now in Rubels. Another example of self inflicted pain was when the West made it impossible for Russia to make debt payments. It was not Russia who suffered (they saved their payments), but the western creditors who lost their money. I know a few investors who held Gazprom and Lukoil stocks over many years. They were factually expropriated because the brokers are refusing to process dividend payments or even selling the stock back to Russia. Again, not Russia was hit but citizens in the West.
ethbr0 4y ago
> Germany got the sanctions voided for that equipment and it was shipped it back to Russia. Apparently there were multiple turbines, and at least one of them is in the "Germany (and Canada) have waived sanctions on it, but Gazprom refuses to accept it back because of sanctions" stage. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/explainer-nord-stream-turbine-tension-puts-focus-on-gas-pipeline-parts/ar-AA113ePY https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/explainer-nord-stream-...
- origin_path 4y ago
  They claim they are refusing to accept it due to lack of delivered documents. As discussed elsewhere on this thread, we don't know what these documents are or why Canada/Germany didn't deliver them or what's really going on here at all, so it's hard to know. But if Russia wanted to use gas sanctions on the west to get western sanctions on Russia relieved, they'd need to actually make that clear instead of talking about document delivery, so it's probably real.

rich_sasha 4y ago

Well, it's economic warfare and two are playing this game. But Russia is certainly not innocent here. Russian funds were indeed frozen, but with the exception of banks processing gas payments so that can go ahead. Russia went further than asset freezes, and nationalised swathes of Western property in Russia, like leased aeroplanos for example. By EU countries laws, frozen Russian assets are to be returned at some point and cannot eg be used by other parties in the meantime. Whereas Russia declared a lot if Western assets their own property now. I agree it's awkward, the West couldn't expect Russia to not respond to the sanctions. So in the narrow context of gas exports it's not simply "bad Russia good West", but Russia is clearly an active belligerent in this economic conflict.

menotyou 4y ago
> Russian funds were indeed frozen, but with the exception of banks processing gas payments so that can go ahead. This is not correct. You have to understand that "money" at commercial banks is not money, but only a debt of that commercial bank with the account holder. Gas and other commodities are always paid in real money, which exists only in to flavors: Paper money and accounts directly at the respective central banks. This means you can have your real USD only on accounts at the FED and real Euros only at ECB etc. The West froze Russian accounts on EZB (the contracts are nominated to be paid in EUR) and at the same time wanted to pay the gas only on these accounts, which for obvious reasons was rejected by Russia. Russia requested to have their accounts unfrozen or paid in Rubels. There was some face saving detours introduced into the payment process, but in the end the West pays now in Rubels. Another example of self inflicted pain was when the West made it impossible for Russia to make debt payments. It was not Russia who suffered (they saved their payments), but the western creditors who lost their money. I know a few investors who held Gazprom and Lukoil stocks over many years. They were factually expropriated because the brokers are refusing to process dividend payments or even selling the stock back to Russia. Again, not Russia was hit but citizens in the West.

ethbr0 4y ago

> Germany got the sanctions voided for that equipment and it was shipped it back to Russia. Apparently there were multiple turbines, and at least one of them is in the "Germany (and Canada) have waived sanctions on it, but Gazprom refuses to accept it back because of sanctions" stage. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/explainer-nord-stream-turbine-tension-puts-focus-on-gas-pipeline-parts/ar-AA113ePY https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/explainer-nord-stream-...

origin_path 4y ago
They claim they are refusing to accept it due to lack of delivered documents. As discussed elsewhere on this thread, we don't know what these documents are or why Canada/Germany didn't deliver them or what's really going on here at all, so it's hard to know. But if Russia wanted to use gas sanctions on the west to get western sanctions on Russia relieved, they'd need to actually make that clear instead of talking about document delivery, so it's probably real.