Kirill Dmitriev, an envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, told an economic forum in Istanbul on Thursday that the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines, damaged by blasts in 2022, will resume operations in future, Reuters reported. "It's economically inevitable," Dmitriev said. "The resumption of energy supplies from Russia is absolutely inevitable," he added. Those are Dmitriev's claims, reported as his statement; no resumption has been agreed or scheduled.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

The Nord Stream pipelines carried Russian gas under the Baltic Sea to Germany before blasts in 2022 damaged three of their four lines. Their future has returned to diplomacy in recent weeks: Reuters reported on October 8 that US envoys including Jared Kushner had discussed bringing an American investor into Nord Stream with Dmitriev, according to reporting summarised by Sestry.eu — a claim the White House at the time said involved no recent Nord Stream discussions, and Berlin said restarting the pipelines would require German government approval it does not intend to grant.

Why the claim matters now

Dmitriev's Istanbul remarks, also carried in AnewZ's live coverage citing Reuters on Thursday, come while US envoy Steve Witkoff's talks with Putin in St Petersburg have revived discussion of a Ukraine settlement in which energy ties feature. European officials have previously recoiled at proposals to resume Russian gas as part of a peace deal, arguing it would undo years of effort to end dependence on Russian energy — a position reported in earlier US-Europe diplomacy coverage.

No European government has announced any change in its position, no licence for a restart has been issued, and the damaged lines would require repair and regulatory approval before any gas could flow. Awaaz Punjab is reporting Dmitriev's statement as a Russian envoy's claim about the future, not as an agreed restart.