Polish and Bulgarian today said Russia is cutting off gas deliveries to their countries after their refusal to pay in Russian roubles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has linked supply of gas with payment in roubles 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 (today/April 27).
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, 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”.
According to the European Network of gas transmission operators, 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.
