Russia cuts off natural gas to Poland and Bulgaria, threatens to do same to other NATO nations

Russian energy company Gazprom has warned it could cut off gas supplies to other nations after turning the taps off for NATO members Poland and Bulgaria.

Gazprom said services will not be restored until payments are made in the Russian currency. It comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered “unfriendly” countries to pay for gas in rubles.

Poland confirmed supplies had stopped, but Bulgaria said it was still unclear whether supplies had been halted.

Countries pay in advance for their gas, but as they have gone to pay for future supplies, Russia has stood firm on its demand made last month that new purchases need to be paid in rubles.

The threat, in which Nathan Piper, head of oil and gas research at Investec, told the BBC the halting of supplies to Poland and Bulgaria was the “start of Russia exerting economic pressure on Europe,” and a move which could “escalate” with other EU nations.

Poland’s deputy foreign minister said the country could cope without Gazprom’s gas and had “taken some decisions many years ago to prepare for such a situation.” Marcin Przdacz told the BBC there were “options to get the gas from other partners,” including the US and gulf nations. “I’m pretty sure that we will manage to handle this,” he told the BBC.

Putin said “existing contracts will be stopped,” has been seen as an attempt boost the ruble, which has been hit by Western sanctions.

Polish state gas company PGNiG, which bought 53% of its gas imports from Gazprom in the first quarter of this year, described the suspension as a breach of contract, adding that the company would take steps to reinstate the gas supply.

Meanwhile in Bulgaria, energy minister Alexander Nikolov said his country had paid for Russian gas deliveries for April and claimed supplier Gazprom will be in breach of its current contract if it halts the flow.

“Because all trade and legal obligations are being observed, it is clear that at the moment [Russian] natural gas is being used more as a political and economic weapon in the current war,” Nikolov said.

Bulgaria, which relies on Gazprom for more than 90% of its gas supply, said it had taken steps to find alternative sources but no restrictions on gas consumption were currently required.

The executive director of Bulgarian gas network operator Bulgartransgaz said supplies to Bulgaria were still currently flowing.