The EU agrees on an energy diet to fight Russian gas cuts

from the was grim. “The situation is tense and a further worsening...cannot be ruled out,” Germany’s energy regulator announced on July 26th. Gazprom, Russia’s state-run gas provider, had just said it would further cut deliveries of natural gas through Nord Stream 1 (), a pipeline from Russia to Germany. 1 was already at 40% of capacity, and has now dropped to 20%. Gazprom blamed turbine trouble: the first of the cuts was attributed to a part sent to Canada for maintenance. That was a pretext. Canada has returned the turbine to Germany, and it could be shipped to Russia any day.Rather, the cuts are blackmail, aimed at forcing Europe to drop sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Pundits had expected the Kremlin to tighten the screws, but not so quickly. If remains at 20% of capacity Germany will not be able to reach the government’s goal of filling 95% of its gas-storage tanks by November. They are now two-thirds full.