Russian gas company Gazprom will temporarily halt gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Europe from August 31. According to the Russian state-owned company, maintenance should be carried out. This also happened a month ago, when it was feared that Moscow would completely stop the supply of gas through the Nord Stream pipeline.

Gazprom announced that maintenance would take three days and that gas should flow through the pipelines again on September 2. There is still a fear that the gas supply will not resume after maintenance. The pipeline runs through the Baltic Sea to Germany, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas.

Currently, Nord Stream 1 provides only 20 percent of what a gas pipeline can provide. Gazprom insists there is no more capacity available due to maintenance delays, but critics suspect Moscow is using the pipeline as a power tool.

This is the second time in a short time that Gazprom has shut down the gas pipeline for maintenance. This also happened a month ago, when the company said that Western sanctions prevented gas turbines maintained by Siemens from returning to Canada. The turbines are now in Germany, but according to Siemens, Gazprom is constantly coming up with new reasons not to take the turbine back.

Germany has long accused Russia of using gas supplies as a means of energy. For example, Gazprom previously demanded payment in rubles. Countries that refused, including Poland and the Netherlands, then stopped receiving gas. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Germany decided to pull the plug on Nord Stream 2. This pipeline was never operational.

The new Nord Stream 1 shutdown is putting more pressure on Europe to reduce gas consumption. This is necessary to replenish stocks, so that in the winter there is no shortage.