Latvia accuses Russian gas producer Gazprom for not supplying gas
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On Saturday, Russian gas producer Gazprom said that it has stopped supplying gas to its neighbour country, Latvia, accusing it of breaching conditions for gas withdrawal.
Russia has already stopped supplying gas to Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Netherlands, and Denmark, which rejected to pay for gas in line with an order by President Vladimir Putin demanding rouble accounts to be set up in a Russian bank as part of a new settlement scheme.
Russia has also stopped gas sales to Shell Energy Europe in Germany. In a statement on Saturday, Gazprom has not specified which gas withdrawal conditions Latvia had allegedly breached.
Gazprom takes this decision a day after Latvian energy firm Latvijas Gaze said that it was buying gas from Russia and paid in euros rather than the roubles required when trading with Gazprom.
On Friday, a spokesperson for Latvijas Gaze said the gas the company was buying was not from Gazprom. Due to business confidentiality, Latvijas Gaze will not name its provider.
According to Reuters, Latvijas Gaze did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday following Gazprom’s announcement.
Putin in March said that the world’s largest natural gas producer would need countries designated as “unfriendly” in their stance on the conflict in Ukraine to pay for piped gas in roubles.
The European Commission has warned that obeying Putin’s order can violate EU sanctions against Moscow, urging EU companies to continue paying in the currency agreed as per the contracts with Gazprom, the vast majority of which are in euros or dollars.
