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Those who do not let Nord Stream 2 operate are acting stupid, says Putin

The Russian president added that "deliveries of additional gas volumes to the European market would certainly lower the price on the exchange, on the spot market"

MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that those who do not let the Nord Stream 2 project operate are acting stupid.

"As for Nord Stream 2 — yes, I agree with your remark. It is also stupid of those who do not allow this system to work, because deliveries of additional gas volumes to the European market would certainly lower the price on the exchange, on the spot market," Putin said, speaking at a joint meeting of the State Council and the Council for Science and Education and commenting on the report of the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Zhirinovsky said that Europeans "are not opening Nord Stream 2 to us, and now they will be freezing."

"They make their own lives worse," Zhirinovsky stressed.

Putin noted that many countries, including Ukraine, did not want to buy gas directly from Russia.

"It was their choice. They do not want to buy it directly from us. [Otherwise] the price would have dropped significantly from them. They are biting the hand that feeds them. It's amazing, but, okay, it's their choice," the President went on.

He also mentioned the situation with the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline.

"Gazprom owns 45% in it, but the Polish side pushed us away from managing this system. They manage it like this - some consumers do not order additional gas, while others launched it in reverse mode, in the opposite direction," the head of state said.

"Actually, this is our, but this does not increase the quality of Russian gas on the European market, so the price is growing. So let them do it, these are their decisions, their deeds, but it’s surprising that they are accusing us of this. It’s just nonsense. They put everything upside down," Putin concluded.

On Thursday, at his annual press conference, Putin noted that the reverse supplies allowed Europeans to resell gas they purchased under long-term contracts. He also noted that Gazprom did not reserve the capacity of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, because there were no applications from European consumers.

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