Looking historically, Russia has used European reliance on the NS1 pipeline through Ukraine during political disagreements. In 2006, they shut off the gas for a few days putting many countries in temporary energy shortages. In this case Russia has suggested hiking prices rather than disrupting supply, but things could quickly change. Shutting off NS1 would be especially crippling to both Ukraine and Germany, as it would cause price increases and shortages. However, it would also have a negative impact on Russia, as the country depends on the revenue from the gas exports. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/a-historical-timeline-of-post-independence-ukraine https://www.npr.org/2022/02/09/1079338002/russia-ukraine-europe-gas-nordstream2-energy

This is such an important aspect to think about! The repercussions of sanctions will fall on and affect citizens.

After years of warnings from the EU, Germany is now seeing the reality of the vulnerable position they are in with heavy reliance on Russian natural gas. With Germany using the halt of NS2 as a sanction against Russia, Russian officials have warned that in return prices of gas from the NS1 pipeline, which Germany still relies on, will increase. German officials are quickly looking into alternatives to avoid extreme inflation. The country is putting focus into emergency reserves of gas as well as renewable energy alternatives. https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-russia-gas-ukraine-crisis-nord-stream/

It appears Germany and other nations are setting up a wide variety of sanctions across many of Russia’s exports. In coordination with the halt of NS2, the state of Bavaria has announced they will not be going forward with producing Russian COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik, in German facilities. The deal for production, first negotiated in April of last year, had not yet been officially signed, but was set to produce 10 million vaccines monthly going forward. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/bavaria-freezes-sputnik-v-production-germany-citing-sanctions-against-russia-2022-02-23/