The Facts
On Thurs., Germany activated the second phase of its three-stage gas emergency program, taking it one step closer to rationing supplies to industry. "As of now gas is in short supply," the German economy minister Robert Habeck told reporters.
This comes after Russia's state-owned gas company, Gazprom, last week cut supplies to the country via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline by 60%, citing delayed repairs of technical parts by German company Siemens because of sanctions. Germany said this was "only a pretext."
The Spin
Pro-Russia narrative
Due to their thoughtless sanctions policy, EU members like Germany are responsible for what is happening now. There are concrete problems with the Siemens compressor units that have not yet been solved, and Gazprom doesn't play by rules it didn't create itself.
Anti-Russia narrative
Russia has weaponized energy. The EU is under an economic attack by Putin, who is trying to undermine the bloc's unity. The risk of full gas disruption is now more real than ever and threatens to throw the EU's largest economy into a severe recession.
