Germany's Greens Party Chief Accuses Russia of 'Playing Poker' With Gas Prices

BERLIN (Sputnik) - Co-chair of The Greens German party Annalena Baerbock said in an interview with the Funke media group that Russia was "playing poker" with gas prices and called for compliance with European legislation in the situation with Nord Stream 2.

"The current high gas prices are primarily the result of high demand and low supply. At the same time, Russia is playing poker: gas supplies have been significantly reduced," Baerbock said.

Russia supplies gas to Europe in accordance with contracts, but the gas storage facilities are relatively empty, Baerbock stated.

"Russia could be doing this consciously to ensure that Nord Stream 2 [pipeline] begins work as soon as possible even though some legal conditions have yet to be met," the German politician suggested.

The Greens co-chair emphasized that she wanted the European energy laws to be respected and, as a consequence, to have one company operate Nord Stream 2 and another one to supply gas via the pipeline.

"While this is the same company, the operation permit cannot be issued," the politician added.

In response to the accusations over high gas prices, the Kremlin stated that Western politicians had miscalculated when switching to alternative energy sources. Russia has repeatedly noted that it is fulfilling all the obligations to European partners and is ready to sell more gas.

Europe saw a sharp increase in gas prices over the past few months. From early August to late September, the price of gas futures at the TTF trading point in the Netherlands more than doubled.