Gazprom Reported Increasing Gas Supplies For Georgia
January 23, 2006
23 January 2006 -- Russia's state-run monopoly Gazprom is reportedly increasing gas flows to Azerbaijan in order to get emergency supplies to Georgia via alternative routes.
The step was reported after two explosions in southern Russia on 22 January knocked out pipelines that supply gas to Georgia and Armenia. A third explosion interrupted Russian electricity exports to Georgia.
Georgian authorities warned after the flows were disrupted that the country's gas reserves were nearly exhausted.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused Russia of using sabotage to pressure Georgia and trigger an energy crisis as sub-zero temperatures are hitting the country.
"It was an attempt by Russia to force Georgia to surrender ownership of its domestic gas pipeline," Saakashvili said on Georgian television on 22 January.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called Saakashvili's comments "hysteria."
Russian officials said investigators are probing whether anti-Moscow militants carried out the pipeline blasts in Russia's North Ossetia region.
Officials said it was expected to be days before the pipelines were repaired to get gas flowing again.
(Interfax, Reuters, AFP, AP)