Russia is poised to temporarily shut down the Nord Stream 1 pipeline — the European Union’s biggest piece of gas import infrastructure — for annual maintenance. The works have stoked fears of further disruption to gas supplies that would undermine the bloc’s efforts to prepare for winter. Some fear the Kremlin could use planned maintenance works to turn off the taps for good. The summer maintenance activities on the pipeline, which runs under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, are scheduled to take place from July 11 through to July 21. It comes as European governments scramble to fill underground storage with ... (full story)