Kremlin: Nord Stream 1 Turbine to be Installed, Volumes will Adjust

Pipes at the landfall facilities of the 'Nord Stream 1' gas pipeline are pictured in Lubmin, Germany, March 8, 2022. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
Pipes at the landfall facilities of the 'Nord Stream 1' gas pipeline are pictured in Lubmin, Germany, March 8, 2022. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
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Kremlin: Nord Stream 1 Turbine to be Installed, Volumes will Adjust

Pipes at the landfall facilities of the 'Nord Stream 1' gas pipeline are pictured in Lubmin, Germany, March 8, 2022. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
Pipes at the landfall facilities of the 'Nord Stream 1' gas pipeline are pictured in Lubmin, Germany, March 8, 2022. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

A repaired gas turbine will be installed in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Germany once it is returned after maintenance, and natural gas will then be supplied in “corresponding volumes”, a Kremlin spokesman said on Monday.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stopped short of saying supply would increase, noting that further equipment needed to be repaired.

But he sounded a relatively upbeat note after weeks of uncertainty over the turbine repair in Canada, and a 10-day shutdown of Nord Stream 1 for annual maintenance, had sown doubt in Europe over whether Russia might shut the pipeline altogether, Reuters reported.

“The turbine will be installed after all the formalities are complete... And the gas will be pumped in the corresponding volumes, the volumes which are technologically possible,” Peskov told reporters.

He was commenting on a report by Kommersant newspaper that Siemens Energy, which had serviced the turbine in Canada, had handed over Canadian documentation to Gazprom which would allow its return.

The Kremlin has denied accusations by European politicians that it is using its energy leverage to “blackmail” the European Union, which together with the United States and other Western nations has imposed waves of sanctions on Moscow since it sent its army into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Gazprom resumed supplies via Nord Stream 1 last week after the 10-day maintenance break, but only at 40% of the pipeline’s capacity.

Russia has said it was forced to lower the volume of gas to that level in June because Western sanctions were delaying the return of the turbine from Canada.

European politicians have challenged that explanation, with Germany saying the turbine in question was not meant to be used until September.

Peskov said that there was more Nord Stream 1 equipment that needed repairing and Siemens Energy was aware of that.

He also said that Moscow was not interested in a complete stoppage of Russian gas supplies to Europe, which is in a rush to fill its underground storage with gas before the winter season.

Peskov said Gazprom was not to blame for the storage risks, reiterating Moscow’s line that Europeans are suffering the consequences of sanctions that they themselves imposed against Russia.



Anxious and Divided, Americans Vote ‘For the Future of This Nation’

 Voters cast their ballots at the Park Slope Armory YCMA in New York on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP)
Voters cast their ballots at the Park Slope Armory YCMA in New York on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP)
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Anxious and Divided, Americans Vote ‘For the Future of This Nation’

 Voters cast their ballots at the Park Slope Armory YCMA in New York on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP)
Voters cast their ballots at the Park Slope Armory YCMA in New York on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP)

Waiting outside polling stations across the country, American voters were a vision of orderly calm and quiet nerves.

The solemn nature of the voting process provided a contrast to the hyper-charged campaign cycle, marked by two assassination attempts on Donald Trump.

"I was thinking about the future of this nation, and frankly the free world," Brockett Within, a 65-year-old New Yorker, told AFP as he cast his vote Tuesday at a polling station in the East Village.

In Georgia, one of seven swing states that will decide the outcome of the vote, 27-year-old beauty queen Ludwidg Louizaire said she was aware of the stakes for the nation.

"I think we all can agree that no matter what happens today, history will be made," said the winner of the Miss Georgia competition this year.

"The main issue for me is the continuation of our democracy," Ken Thompson, a 66-year-old mason told AFP, at Edison Elementary school in Erie, Pennsylvania.

- 'America first' -

Around the country, voters confided in AFP about the issues that had tipped their decisions, often echoing the main talking-points of the campaign from immigration, abortion rights to the economy.

"We don't need another four more years of high inflation, gas prices, lying," Darlene Taylor, 56, told AFP in Erie, a bellwether county in Pennsylvania which is the biggest and most prized of the swing states.

Wearing a homemade T-shirt bearing the names of Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, she said her main issue was to "close the border" to migrants.

"America comes first, and (Kamala) Harris is not going to support that," added Taylor, who said she lived on disability benefits.

Liz Orlova, a 22-year-old in New York, said that abortion rights had been "at the forefront of my mind" as she voted in the East Village.

US Supreme Court justices appointed by Trump helped overturn the federal right to abortion in 2022 -- an issue Harris has pledged to tackle if elected.

"It's super messed up that across the country that particular right is being taken away from people," said Orlova.

- 'Way more people' -

Turn-out is expected to be crucial in Tuesday's vote. Democrats tend to do well among more educated and wealthier voters who cast ballots regularly, while Trump has courted more marginalized citizens who often opt out.

Both are hoping to turn out young voters in their support.

The lines outside polling stations along the east coast early suggested that many Americans had embraced calls from the candidates, celebrities and activists to carry out their duty.

"It's way, way, way more people here than the last" election, Marchelle Beason, 46, told AFP in Erie after putting on an "I voted" sticker.

Others confessed that they would simply be relieved when the blanket political adverts on television and the internet would end -- and a vote that has kept the country on edge all year will finally be decided.

"I'll be glad when it's over," Guy Mills, 62, told AFP in New York.