German Economy Minister Robert Habeck. Archival photoMOSCOW, May 14th. Germany will be able to survive the coming winter without Russian gas supplies, provided there are significant energy savings and with full gas storage facilities, German Economics Minister, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said in an interview with the Wirtschafts Woche newspaper. The German politician believes that industry and individuals can reduce energy consumption by ten percent and still not get into «distress.» «If we have full storage by the end of the year, if two of our four leased floating LNG tankers are connected to the grid, if we save significantly on energy, then we will be able to survive the winter without Russian gas supplies,» Khabek suggested. At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister warned about the economic risks of stopping the import of blue fuel from Russia. will be empty at the end of winter,» the head of the German Ministry of Economy concluded. Earlier, Habek said that Germany could not enter and a ban on natural gas supplies from Russia. According to him, German storage facilities are 40 percent full. increased sanctions pressure on Moscow. Now the European Commission is discussing the sixth package of restrictive measures, which includes, in particular, a phase-out of Russian oil imports. It has not yet been possible to agree on it, since some countries, including Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, require exceptions for themselves. The Kremlin called the sanctions an economic war like no other, and took retaliatory measures by prohibiting foreign investors of the Russian financial system and converting payments for gas into rubles. For the West, all this has already turned into economic problems, causing an increase in fuel and food prices.
