MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/. Berlin’s losses from the Nord Stream sabotage are estimated to exceed €160 bln; Tehran halts IAEA cooperation after the UN reinstates sanctions under the snapback mechanism; and US President Donald Trump calls on the Taliban to return Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base. These stories topped Monday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
Izvestia: Germany’s losses from Nord Stream sabotage exceed €160 bln
Germany’s overall losses from the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines have surpassed €160 bln, Bundestag members told Izvestia. The halt of cheap Russian gas deliveries has worsened fiscal challenges, triggered higher prices and unemployment, and put German social benefits under threat, experts caution. At the same time, Berlin continues to withhold information about its probe into the pipeline blasts. Meanwhile, Russia is preparing to file a case with the International Court of Justice, the scope of which will depend on ongoing but so far fruitless negotiations with Europe, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed.
"By preliminary estimates, the volume of gas supplied through Nord Stream in 2021, around 59 bln cubic meters, led to extra annual replacement expenses of about €50 bln at 2022 prices. To this must be added irretrievable investments in the pipelines of more than €15 bln overall along with damage and repair costs after the explosions," Bundestag member Steffen Kotre from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and member of the parliamentary committee on economics and energy told Izvestia. "However, the real consequences are hard to assess with certainty, since they depend on market rates, consumption changes, and alternative sources," he added.
