Vladimir Putin says Russia will honor gas commitments, but warns of new Nord Stream restrictions

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will fulfill its commitments to supply natural gas to Europe, but warned that flows through the Nord Stream pipeline could soon be limited if sanctions prevent further maintenance on its components.

Nord Stream, Russia’s main gas artery to Europe, is currently down due to regular maintenance and European governments fear the Kremlin will restore flow when work ends on Thursday. A prolonged outage could prompt governments to ration energy, hurt industry and hurt already fragile economic growth.