Kremlin said on Thursday that all difficulties with the supply of Russian natural gas to Europe were caused by Western restrictions, after a major gas pipeline was restarted at below capacity following maintenance, APA reports citing Reuters.
In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia remains "a very important and indispensable part of European energy security".
"Putin has quite comprehensively explained, that it's wrong to talk about any pressure, any blackmail. This is an absolutely wrong statement and we categorically deny it," Peskov said.
He said that because of sanctions imposed by the European Union, Nord Stream 1 faced challenges in equipment maintenance.
"Exactly those very restrictions led to the fact that the machines cannot receive the necessary servicing. The restrictions imposed by the Europeans are the reason for their problems."
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