Gazprom, the energy giant of Russia, said it has stopped sending gas to Latvia after accusing the recent European Union (EU) country of violating the conditions of purchase.
Although Latvia’s dependence on its neighbor, Russia, for natural gas supply, government officials said that the decision by Gazprom will not have a significant impact on Latvia.
Russia has cut off gas supplies to a few countries, like Poland, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Finland. These countries refuse to pay for gas in accordance with an order from Russian President Vladimir Putin requiring a ruble account to be established in a Russian bank.
Furthermore, Russia has also halted gas sales to Shell Energy Europe in Germany.
However, Gazprom in the statement did not specify which gas supply conditions in Latvia had allegedly been violated. The Member States of the European Union have accused Russia of weaponizing its gas and energy exports in retaliation for western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.
A senior Latvian economics ministry official, Edijs Saicans, said that “we do not see any major impacts from such a move,” as the European Union member country has already decided to ban gas imports from Russia from January 1st 2023.
The European Union rejects Russia’s demand that member states pay for Gazprom gas in rubles, not euros. It stated that there is no contractual condition for payment to be made in rubles.
Furthermore, this announcement from Gazprom came a day after the Latvian gas utility firm Latvijas Gaze stated that it was buying Russian gas but paying in euros and not rubles.
An emergency regulation was agreed upon by EU countries on Tuesday to curb their gas use this winter, preparing for a winter of uncertain supplies from Russia. (Aljazeera)