Moscow vows to turn off Poland’s gas supplies in row over demand for payment in roubles
- Russia to stop gas supplies to Poland over its refusal to pay in roubles
- Gazprom said deliveries through the Yamal-Europe pipeline would stop today
- Putin is carrying out his threat against countries who’ve sanctioned Russia
- He wants ‘unfriendly countries’ to pay for gas in roubles to prop up the currency
- Poland’s climate minister Anna Moskwa said the country was prepared
Russia has said it will turn off Poland’s gas supplies this morning over its refusal to pay in roubles.
Poland’s state gas company PGNiG said it was notified by Russian gas giant Gazprom that deliveries through the Yamal-Europe pipeline would stop today.
It is the first such suspension since Vladimir Putin warned that ‘unfriendly countries’ must pay for gas in roubles, which would help prop up Russia’s heavily sanctioned economy.
It is also a sign that the Kremlin will weaponise energy supplies, despite its claims to the contrary.
Poland’s climate minister Anna Moskwa said the country was prepared for the situation as it had worked for years to reduce reliance on Russian energy.
The Gaz-System gas distribution station in Gustorzyn, central Poland. Russia has said it will turn off Poland’s gas supplies this morning over its refusal to pay in roubles
A Belarusian worker on duty at a gas compressor station of the Yamal-Europe pipeline. Poland’s climate minister Anna Moskwa said the country was prepared for the situation as it had worked for years to reduce reliance on Russian energy
Poland was expected to end its orders of Russian gas this year anyway.
‘There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes,’ Miss Moskwa tweeted.
Poland has been receiving nine billion cubic metres of Russian gas a year, meeting more than half of its demand.
But it has alternative supply sources, including a gas pipeline connection with Lithuania that is due to open on May 1.
Another new pipeline, delivering gas from Norway, is due to come online in October, reaching full capacity by the end of the year.
Futhermore, Warsaw’s underground gas storage tanks are said to be 80 per cent full and, with summer approaching, demand will be lower.
However, a long-term suspension could lead to restrictions on manufacturers, some of Poland’s biggest gas consumers.
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