Russian gas giant Gazprom has suspended gas deliveries to Latvia. An announcement that comes in a context of Russian-Western tensions due to the conflict in Ukraine and the unprecedented European sanctions decided against Russia. “Today, Gazprom suspended its gas deliveries to Latvia (…), due to the violation of gas extraction conditions,” the Russian company said in a statement on Telegram, without giving further details.
This announcement comes as Gazprom sharply reduced its deliveries of Russian gas to Europe this week through the Nord Stream pipeline. To explain this decision, the gas giant had raised the need for maintenance of a turbine. This reduction in supply came as European countries scramble to fill up their winter stockpiles.
The energy weapon, in retaliation for sanctions?
Russia had already reduced its delivery volume twice in June, saying the pipeline could not function normally without a turbine that was being repaired in Canada and had not been returned to Russia due to Western-imposed sanctions following the Russian attack. to Ukraine. Germany and Canada have since agreed to send the equipment back to Russia, but the turbine has yet to be delivered.
Westerners accuse Moscow of using the energy weapon in retaliation for the sanctions adopted after the offensive against Ukraine. For its part, the Kremlin assures that the sanctions are at the origin of the technical problems of the gas infrastructure and that therefore Europe suffers from the measures imposed on Russia.
Russia has been hit with several rounds of Western sanctions after its military intervention in Ukraine launched on February 24. Russian gas exports to Europe, particularly to Germany and Italy, have been steadily declining since the start of these sanctions. Gazprom also stopped its gas deliveries to several European customers, including Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark, who refused to pay in rubles.
Source: BFM TV
