This wouldn't be just to force the opening of Nord Stream 2.
Russia knows that the pipeline may be shut down again by Europe for any reason, including environmental concerns, safety concerns, etc... at any time in the future.
No, the cancelling of gas supply contracts, in my opinion, has a more sinister purpose. Russia knows that keeping Nord Stream 1 off-line for "repairs" and keeping their other gas pipelines either shut off, or at partial flow... will force Germany, France, Austria, etc... to use up their current gas storage.
If I were Russia, I would want to keep the pipelines shut for 2-months or more, giving one excuse after another. At best, I'd re-start some pipelines at a trickle just to keep Western Europe anticipating the re-opening of the other pipelines. Let Western Europe to go into beginning of winter with less than 20% gas storage, and some countries having depleted their gas stores to zero. They will have no gas reserves left. NOW turn back on the gas supply.
Guess who has the upper hand to dictate prices and terms all winter long? By controlling the gas supply when Europe has no other viable options and is living day-to-day on the gas Russia chooses to supply... you get the picture.
This wouldn't be just to force the opening of Nord Stream 2.
Russia knows that the pipeline may be shut down again by Europe for any reason, including environmental concerns, safety concerns, etc... at any time in the future.
No, the cancelling of gas supply contracts, in my opinion, has a more sinister purpose. Russia knows that keeping Nord Stream 1 off-line for "repairs" and keeping their other gas pipelines either shut off, or at partial flow... will force Germany, France, Austria, etc... to use up their current gas storage.
If I were Russia, I would want to keep the pipelines shut for 2-months or more, giving one excuse after another. At best, I'd re-start some pipelines at a trickle just to keep Western Europe anticipating the re-opening of the other pipelines. Let Western Europe to go into beginning of winter with less than 20% gas storage, and some countries having depleted their gas stores to zero. They will have no gas reserves left. NOW turn back on the gas supply.
Guess who has the upper hand to dictate prices and terms all winter long? By controlling the gas supply when Europe has no other viable options and is living day-to-day on the gas Russia chooses to supply... you get the picture.
It's a dark pictures of major conflict with western intervention. They keep pawing at each other, someone's gonna get their feelings hurt.