عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Kremlin: Only Sanctions Prevent Nord Stream Gas Pipeline from Working

View towards Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline and the transfer station of the Baltic Sea Pipeline Link in the industrial area of Lubmin, Germany, August 30, 2022. (Reuters)
View towards Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline and the transfer station of the Baltic Sea Pipeline Link in the industrial area of Lubmin, Germany, August 30, 2022. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Kremlin: Only Sanctions Prevent Nord Stream Gas Pipeline from Working

View towards Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline and the transfer station of the Baltic Sea Pipeline Link in the industrial area of Lubmin, Germany, August 30, 2022. (Reuters)
View towards Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline and the transfer station of the Baltic Sea Pipeline Link in the industrial area of Lubmin, Germany, August 30, 2022. (Reuters)

Nothing stands on the way of Russian gas exports to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline apart from technological problems caused by Western sanctions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, a day before another planned maintenance shutdown.

Russian energy giant Gazprom has announced it will shut the pipeline for three days from Wednesday to undertake maintenance of a single pumping unit at the Portovaya compressor station.

Peskov was asked if there are guarantees that Gazprom will restart gas flows via Nord Stream 1 after the maintenance.

"There are guarantees that, apart from technological problems caused by sanctions, nothing hinders the supplies," he replied.

Natural gas prices have soared in Europe to all-time highs amid tight supplies from Russia. It has been pumping gas via Nord Stream 1 at only 20% of capacity. citing problems with equipment.

The European Union rejects Moscow's version that turbine problems and sanctions are to blame. France accused Moscow on Tuesday of using energy supply as "a weapon of war" as Gazprom reduced deliveries to one of its main utilities, Engie, and prepared to halt flows through Nord Stream 1.

Peskov told reporters: "European countries, Canada, the US, Great Britain imposed sanctions against the Russian Federation, which do not allow carrying out normal maintenance and repair work, and also do not allow legal registration of the return of components and assemblies to their places of operation."

He added: "There are no other obstacles for Russia to fulfil its obligations."

The front-month gas contract in Europe was down 3% at 259 euros/MWh on Tuesday morning, off all-time highs hit last week but more than five times levels seen a year ago.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Russian Strikes Kill Three, Wound Four in Ukraine

In this handout photograph taken on April 24, 2026 and released on April 25, 2026 by the press service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Ukrainian servicemen walk on a road past a destroyed military vehicle, near Druzhkivka, in Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by IRYNA RYBAKOVA / The 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate / AFP)
In this handout photograph taken on April 24, 2026 and released on April 25, 2026 by the press service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Ukrainian servicemen walk on a road past a destroyed military vehicle, near Druzhkivka, in Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by IRYNA RYBAKOVA / The 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate / AFP)
TT
TT

Russian Strikes Kill Three, Wound Four in Ukraine

In this handout photograph taken on April 24, 2026 and released on April 25, 2026 by the press service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Ukrainian servicemen walk on a road past a destroyed military vehicle, near Druzhkivka, in Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by IRYNA RYBAKOVA / The 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate / AFP)
In this handout photograph taken on April 24, 2026 and released on April 25, 2026 by the press service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Ukrainian servicemen walk on a road past a destroyed military vehicle, near Druzhkivka, in Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by IRYNA RYBAKOVA / The 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate / AFP)

Russian strikes across Ukraine killed three people and wounded at least four others, Ukrainian officials said Sunday.

Moscow has fired hundreds of drones on its neighbor almost nightly since its 2022 invasion, while Ukraine has carried out regular attacks on Russian energy and military targets.

In the northeastern Ukraine border region of Sumy, one Russian drone attack killed two civilians, according to the head of Sumy's regional military administration.

"The enemy struck civilians in the territory of Bilopillia community -- near one of the settlements, less than five km from the state border with the Russian Federation," Oleg Grygorov said in a post on Telegram.

He said two men aged 48 and 72 were killed, AFP reported.

Drone and artillery attacks in the central-eastern city of Dnipro, meanwhile, killed one person and wounded four more, the region's military administration head Oleksandr Ganzha said.

Ganzha in a Telegram post said private homes and vehicles were damaged.

Earlier Sunday, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol in Russian-annexed Crimea said a man was killed in a vehicle during a Ukrainian drone attack that damaged several homes and a dance school in different neighborhoods of the port city.

The governor said Russia shot down 43 drones in the attack.

On Saturday, Ukrainian authorities said at least eight people were killed in Dnipro, which was hit by waves of Russian strikes for 20 hours straight.

World

Accused WH Correspondents’ Dinner Attacker is Tutor and Computer Programmer

A law enforcement officer sets up police tape near an address connected to Cole Tomas Allen, the shooting suspect at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Torrance, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
A law enforcement officer sets up police tape near an address connected to Cole Tomas Allen, the shooting suspect at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Torrance, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
TT
TT

Accused WH Correspondents’ Dinner Attacker is Tutor and Computer Programmer

A law enforcement officer sets up police tape near an address connected to Cole Tomas Allen, the shooting suspect at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Torrance, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
A law enforcement officer sets up police tape near an address connected to Cole Tomas Allen, the shooting suspect at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Torrance, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Social media posts that appear to match the California man arrested Saturday in the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner show he is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer.

A May 2025 profile photo of Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, appears to match the appearance of the man in a photo of the alleged attacker being taken into custody that was posted Saturday night by President Donald Trump. The photo, posted to the social networking site LinkedIn, shows him in a cap and gown after graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University-Dominguez Hills.

Allen, 31, earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He listed his involvement there in a Christian student fellowship and a campus group that battled with Nerf guns.

A local ABC station in Los Angeles included an interview with Allen during his senior year of college as part of a story about new technologies to help people as they age. He had developed a prototype for a new type of emergency brake for wheelchairs.

Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024, according to federal campaign finance records.

Allen's online resume says he worked for the last six years at C2 Education, a company that offers admissions counseling and test preparation services to aspiring college students. A 2024 post on the company’s Facebook page listed Allen as the company’s teacher of the month. The company did not immediately respond to an Associated Press email seeking comment Saturday night.

Allen also posted that he had developed a video game for the Steam platform based on molecular chemistry. A post under Allen’s name said he was working to develop a new “top-down shooter” combat game set in outer space.

World

Explosive Device Kills and Injures Scores on Bus in Southwestern Colombia

The covered body of a victim lies among vehicles damaged in an attack on the Pan-American Highway in Cajibio, Colombia, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
The covered body of a victim lies among vehicles damaged in an attack on the Pan-American Highway in Cajibio, Colombia, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
TT
TT

Explosive Device Kills and Injures Scores on Bus in Southwestern Colombia

The covered body of a victim lies among vehicles damaged in an attack on the Pan-American Highway in Cajibio, Colombia, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
The covered body of a victim lies among vehicles damaged in an attack on the Pan-American Highway in Cajibio, Colombia, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)

An explosive device killed 13 people traveling on a bus in southwestern Colombia on Saturday, an attack the country's army chief described as a “terrorist act" that also left at least 38 injured as violence linked to drug trafficking in the region escalates.

Octavio Guzmán, the governor of the region of Cauca, said on X that the device was set off while the bus was traveling along the Panamerican Highway in the municipality of Cajibio. Five children were among the injured, Cauca Health Secretary Carolina Camargo told Noticias Caracol, a TV news program.

Gen. Hugo López, commander of Colombia's Armed Forces, told a news conference that it was a “terrorist act" and blamed the network of a man known as “Iván Mordisco” — one of Colombia’s most wanted figures — and the Jaime Martínez faction. Both are dissidents of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that operate in the region.

Neither Iván Mordisco nor the Jaime Martínez faction abide by the peace agreement signed with the state in 2016.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the attack on X, The Associated Press reported.

“Those who carried out the attack and killed seven civilians — and wounded 17 others — in Cajibío — many of them Indigenous people — are terrorists, fascists, and drug traffickers,” he wrote.

The attack is the latest in a spate of explosions that have attempted to target public infrastructure. At least 26 incidents have taken place in the past two days in southwestern Colombia, which López said has only affected civilians.

They included a shooting at a police station in the rural area of Jamundi, and an attack on a Civil Aviation radar facility in El Tambo, where authorities took down three explosives-laden drones earlier on Saturday. No one was hurt.

On Friday, two vehicles rigged with explosives were detonated near military units in Cali and Palmira, causing material damage.

The escalation of violence in that region — a territory contested by illegal armed groups linked to drug trafficking — prompted the mobilization of high-ranking officials on Saturday.

Led by Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez, the delegation that includes regional governors and local authorities, was meeting in Palmira when the deadly explosion occurred.

“These criminals seek to instill fear, but we will respond with firmness,” Sánchez said on X.

Meanwhile, Francisca Toro, governor of Valle del Cauca, has called upon the national government to provide “immediate support.” In a message on X, Toro called for a reinforcement of public security forces, enhanced intelligence operations and “decisive actions” against crime in the face of a “terrorist-level escalation.”

According to authorities, Cauca and Valle del Cauca serve as a critical hub for illicit activities of illegal armed groups vying for control over sea and river access routes leading to the port of Buenaventura — a key transit point used to traffic drugs to Central America and Europe.

The government has also offered a reward of more than 1 million dollars for information leading to the capture of “Marlon,” who is identified as the leader of the region's dissident group. On Friday, local authorities offered more than $14,000 for information leading to the identification and location of those behind the attacks in Cali and Palmira.