Russian gaz giant Gazprom begins 10 days of routine maintenance on its Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Monday -- with Germany and other European countries watching anxiously to see if the gas comes back on.
The annual work on the two pipelines was scheduled long in advance. The fear is however that -- with relations between Russia and the West at their lowest in years because of the invasion of Ukraine -- Gazprom might take the opportunity to simply shut off the valves.
