Gazprom: Russia stops supplying Latvia with gas

Russia is shutting off gas supplies to another EU country. Energy giant Gazprom announced on Saturday that it had halted deliveries to Latvia due to a violation of the terms of the withdrawal.

After restrictions and pauses on the gas supply for several European UnionThe countries with the largest supplier to Russia Gazprom According to their own statements, Latvia also turned off the gas tap. And the energy giant announced, on Saturday, that the company had halted deliveries for violating the terms of gas withdrawal. The state-owned company did not give details of the violations.

Latvian utility company Latvijas Gaze said on Friday that it buys gas from Russia, but not from Gazprom. “We get it from another provider,” the company said. The name of the provider is a trade secret.

In March, Russia required Gazprom’s European customers to pay their bills in rubles instead of in euros or dollars as before. The move is seen as a measure to support the Russian currency in the wake of the economic sanctions imposed on Russia in the wake of its attack on Ukraine. The European Union Commission described the response to the Russian request as a violation of sanctions. Latvijas Gaze, like some other Gazprom customers, has announced that it will continue to pay for Russian gas in euros. Latvia also announced that it will not buy gas from Russia until the end of the year. Latvia’s neighbor, Lithuania, is already operating without Russian gas.

In connection with the currency dispute, Russia has stopped gas supplies to several countries. Finland, Denmark, Poland, Bulgaria and the Netherlands are no longer supplied. In addition, Gazprom has reduced deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany, which also affects Austria. Gazprom gives technical reasons for this. The German government described this as a pretext for a politically motivated decision.

(APA / dpa / Reuters)