German ambassador to Canada accuses Russia of using ‘energy as a weapon’
ANKARA
The Russian Embassy in Canada on Friday teased Germany’s Ambassador to the country Sabine Sparwasser on Twitter following her remarks that “Russia uses energy as a weapon.”
Quoting Robert Habeck, the German federal minister for economic affairs and climate action, Sparwasser tweeted: ” ‘This is a rough road our country will have to walk.’ Minister Habeck @BMWK announced today that Germany now moves to level 2 on the gas emergency plans. Russia is using energy as a weapon against Europe.”
In response to Sparwasser, the Russian Embassy in Canada tweeted that the EU “got cornered by its own sanctions’ policy, declares intent to cut itself from (Russian) oil&gas, dubs (Russia) adversary and wants to suffocate (Russian) economy while still buying (Russian) gas.”
“At the same time claiming that (Russia) uses energy as a weapon. Did we miss smth, Amb @s_sparwasser?” the Embassy also said, ending the tweet with a smiling cat emoji.
On Tuesday, Habeck said Russia’s interruption of natural gas shipments to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline on the grounds of technical problems is an “economic attack.”
He noted that the cut is part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plan to create “chaos” in the European gas market.
On June 15, the Russian energy giant Gazprom said some technical equipment sent to the German firm Siemens for maintenance had not yet been returned and warned that the gas shipments through the Nord Stream pipeline would decrease.
Gazprom said that up to 67 million cubic meters of daily gas supply could be provided through the pipeline as of June 16 — a 60% reduction.
The Netherlands, Germany, and Austria announced that they would put into use their coal plants to reduce gas consumption with the aim of filling gas storage facilities.
Berlin plans to fill its natural gas storage facilities up to 90% as of November, which is at 58% currently.
Germany is more dependent on Russian oil and gas than any other European country.
