Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has threatened to take the Haidach underground storage facility from Gazprom if it is not filled with gas. He told the broadcast Kronen Zeitung.
“We will closely monitor the situation and if Russian Gazprom does not fill our largest storage facility, we will take it from them and transfer it to other suppliers,” he said.
Former Austrian Minister of Energy Leonora Gewessler statedHe said it would take years to phase out Russian gas. According to Gewessler, the situation in Ukraine has forced the country to face “an unpleasant reality”.
Austria maintains one of the oldest and deepest ties to Russian energy in Europe, according to the agency, in 2018 the country extended a long-term gas contract until 2040.
Prior to that, Austrian Minister of Digitization and Economy Margarethe Schrambeck said that the country still does not support the imposition of an embargo on gas supplies from the Russian Federation. According to the economy minister, restrictions on Russia will be a red line for Austria.