Ukraine has condemned what it dubs Russia’s ‘gas blackmail’ as Poland and Bulgaria say Gazprom is set to cut their gas supplies on Wednesday.
Polish and Bulgarian officials say Russia is cutting off gas deliveries to their countries after their refusal to pay in Russian roubles, a demand made by President Vladimir Putin as the West tightened sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
Poland’s state-owned PGNiG, citing the Russian energy giant Gazprom, said the suspension would come into effect at 8am local time (06:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
Bulgaria’s economy ministry said the Bulgargaz state-owned operator had also received a notification from Gazprom that natural gas supplies would be suspended starting April 27.
Gazprom did not confirm the move, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. But a spokesperson, Sergey Kupriyanov, told reporters that the company had stressed on Tuesday that Poland was “today obliged to pay for gas supplies in accordance with the new payment procedure”.
The Reuters news agency, citing data from the European Network of gas transmission operators, said Russia has halted its gas supplies to Poland under its Yamal contract. But it said there was no word if Bulgaria’s supplies were also cut.
The reported suspensions would be the first since Putin’s announcement last month that “unfriendly foreign buyers” would have to transact with Gazprom in roubles instead of United States dollars and euros. Only Hungary has agreed to do so, with other countries rejecting the demand as an unacceptable one-sided breach of contracts and a violation of sanctions.
If deliveries were halted to other countries as well, it could cause economic pain in Europe, driving natural gas prices up and possibly leading to rationing – but it would also deal a major blow to Russia’s own economy.
Ukraine responded to the reported moves by accusing Russia of blackmailing Europe over energy, an attempt it said was aimed at breaking its allies.
“The ultimate goal of Russia’s leadership is not just to seize the territory of Ukraine, but to dismember the entire centre and east of Europe and deal a global blow to democracy,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late on Tuesday.
Aljazeera
