Russian giant Gazprom announces it has suspended gas deliveries to Latvia

UPGRADE DAY

Russian gas giant Gazprom announced on Saturday that it has suspended gas deliveries to Latvia, amid Russian-Western tensions over the conflict in Ukraine and unprecedented European sanctions against Russia. 

“Gazprom today suspended gas deliveries to Latvia (…), due to violation of gas offtake conditions,” the Russian company said. in a statement on Telegram, without further details.

The announcement comes as Gazprom drastically reduced deliveries of Russian gas to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline this week, citing the need for turbine maintenance as European countries scramble to fill their reserves. for the winter.

Russia had already cut its delivery volume twice in June, saying the pipeline could not function normally without a turbine that was being repaired in Canada and had not been returned to Russia because of sanctions imposed by the Westerners following the Russian assault on Ukraine.

Germany and Canada have since agreed to return the equipment to Russia, but the turbine has yet to be delivered .  

The West accuses Moscow of using the energy weapon in retaliation for the sanctions adopted after the offensive against Ukraine.

The Kremlin assures for its apart from the fact that the sanctions are the cause of technical problems in the gas infrastructure and that Europe therefore suffers from the measures it imposes on Russia.

Russia has been hit by several salvos of Western sanctions after its military intervention in Ukraine launched on February 24.

Exports of gas r to Europe, in particular to Germany and Italy, have been in constant decline since the start of these sanctions. Gazprom also interrupted its gas deliveries to several European customers who refused to pay in rubles.