Russia: Sanctions by West cannot force Moscow to change course

Moscow says sanctions by the West against Russia over Ukraine war cannot force the Kremlin to change course, five months into a military operation in the ex-Soviet country.

In a virtual press conference on Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stressed that such tough sanctions would not force Moscow to change its course in Ukraine.

“Even the harshest sanctions have never made countries change their position,” Peskov emphasized.

The Kremlin has time and again stressed that the Western flood of weapons and arrays of anti-Russia sanctions will not force Moscow to end the operation before achieving its objectives in the former Soviet republic.

'Hitches in gas delivery due to technical difficulties'

Elsewhere in his remarks, Peskov said Europe’s gas delivery problems are due to what he called “technical difficulties” created by Western economic sanctions, as the Nord Stream1 pipeline reopened following maintenance but with a decreased flow.

“Any technical difficulties linked to this are caused by those restrictions that European countries introduced themselves,” Peskov said at the presser.

Moscow has already significantly curtailed its gas supply to Europe – through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that transports gas from Russia to Germany – by 40 percent, which has helped to push up European and British gas prices, prompting such gas-dependent countries to desperately find alternative suppliers and ways to tackle the shortage months ahead of the winter.

Peskov, however, stressed that accusations that Moscow was using gas deliveries as political blackmail were “completely” unfounded.

Putin warned on May 12 that the West’s sanctions would eventually backfire, stressing that “the continuation of the obsession with sanctions will inevitably lead to the most difficult consequences for the European Union.”

Data by the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows Russian natural gas flows to the EU have fallen below 100 million cubic meters a day in July compared with flows of almost 400 million cubic meters roughly this time last year.

Europe was on edge during the 10-day Nord Stream 1 repair works, fearing that Russia would not reopen the taps in retaliation for the sanctions.

Peskov said Russian state energy giant Gazprom is ready to “fulfill its responsibilities in full” but that Western sanctions “do not allow the repair of equipment” critical for its work. He said the technical reasons are associated “with the impossibility of proper technological maintenance.”

The Kremlin spokesperson further emphasized that the sanctions do not allow the proper “repair of equipment”, including the “turbines at compressor stations.”

SS