RUSSIA is not withholding gas supplies for political reasons, the Russian ambassador to the UK has said, adding commitments to increase supply will take time to take effect.

Asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme if Russia is withholding supplies for political reasons, Andrei Kelin said: “Certainly we do not withhold it for political reasons”.

He said the pipeline is ready, and said “we expect final go-ahead from Germany. So as soon as it will happen then of course new gas supplies will come from this pipeline”.

Asked if Russia will carry on increasing the amount of gas for western Europe if Germany does not approve the pipeline quickly, Kelin said: “As much as we can do that.

"We have increased supplies via Ukraine pipeline by 10%, but as we understand we cannot do more because the equipment at this pipeline has never been modernised and has never been reconstructed so it is simply dangerous to use it.”

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Challenged by Marr that he cannot see evidence that Russia has increased supply through the Ukraine by 10%, Kelin said he is not a specialist in that area, but said it was not the case that supply would increase so soon after an announcement. He said: “Gas travels at not the speed of light of course, it goes very slowly by that.”

Asked if Russia is doing everything it can to get more and cheaper gas to Western Europe, Kelin said Nord Stream 2 would facilitate addressing those issues.

The Russian ambassador to the UK said he cannot say if gas supplies will rise from November, but said there has already been a 15% increase.

Asked about concerns that Nord Stream 2 will give Russia huge powers over western Europe just by “using a tap”, Andrei Kelin dismissed those suggestions as “nonsense” and joked whether such a tap might be in the basement of his embassy.

When pressed on if it gas supplies will increase from November 1 whether or not Nord Stream 2 is granted approval, Kelin said: “I simply do not know. But we have, as I said, we increase it by 15% right now.”

On the effect of gas supply and price increases in the UK, Kelin appeared to downplay the significance of the UK’s issues, but said if there is an opportunity Russia will come to the “rescue” and “will do what we can of course to alleviate difficult conditions”.

The Russian ambassador to the UK also said the decision has not been taken yet as to whether President Vladimir Putin will attend COP26.

Kelin said that he understands a decision has not been taken on whether or not the Russian leader will attend the major international climate summit in Glasgow next month.

But he added: “But we will send a large delegation and believe me it will be a delegation that will consist of more than 200 people. The government will be represented at a very high level.”

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He defended Russia’s efforts to decarbonise, saying “we take the issue very seriously”.

“The day before yesterday the president announced that we now have set a goal of reaching hydrocarbon neutrality by 2060.

“We are not very much in a hurry, we do not want to jump. We do not believe that putting artificial goals and not very much calculated goals will help in this situation,” Mr Kelin added.

Challenged on 2060 being a later date than other countries are aiming for, he said: “It is not very much later date because the idea is to set up the goal of 2050.”

While speaking to Marr, the Russian ambassador also insisted BBC news correspondent Sarah Rainsford can return to the country if visas are granted to Russian journalists to work in the UK.

The BBC’s Moscow correspondent Rainsford was expelled from Russia earlier this year.

Challenged by Marr that the British journalist has been told she was considered a threat to the security of Russia, but has not been told what that means, the Russian ambassador said that was incorrect.

Kelin said: “We have also explained it to the Foreign Office and to the others that this step has been done because our journalists here are very badly treated, in a sense that they are being expelled a year earlier. And we just expect that situation will be reversed.

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“Sarah has also been told that as soon as our correspondent of Tass news agency will receive a visa to enter the United Kingdom she may return.”

Kelin appeared to deny that the expulsion was connected to Rainsford’s questions to Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko.

Asked if the two were connected, he said: “No. This lady, as I have said, may return when we will see that our journalists are getting visas to enter the United Kingdom to work.”

He said that “in general” what the UK press is writing about Russia is “very bad”.