Russia cutting gas supply to Poland by 20pc
POLAND and Germany yesterday announced that Russia had cut their gas supply, with Warsaw saying it was down 20 per cent.
Some European officials believe Moscow could use gas supply disruptions as its trump card in a confrontation over Ukraine that has already brought ties between Moscow and the west to their lowest since the Cold War.
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom issued a statement saying it was pumping gas to all destinations “according to the resources available for exports and for the continuing pumping to storage facilities in the Russian Federation”.
But Gazprom did not deny the levels of supply this week to Poland were lower than they were previously.
“This is a warning signal for the EU not to go any further with the sanct – ions,” said Pawel Poprawa of the Institute for Energy Studies in Warsaw,
The disruption came as the EU and the US prepared to impose a new round of sanctions on Russia over its intervention in Ukraine, a step that Russian officials had warned would bring consequences for Europe.
These could include a halt to cooperation on all energy services and technology in the unconventional oil fields.