The Guardian reports:

Russia has been accused of seeking to blackmail Europe, as the energy giant Gazprom confirmed it had halted gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria and was prepared to target other countries.

The Kremlin said the dramatic move, widely seen as an attempt to weaponise Russia’s energy supplies, was a response to the failure by the two EU countries to make their payments in roubles.

The immediate consequence of Gazprom’s decision was a 20% rise in the wholesale gas price, driving it almost seven times higher than a year ago and hitting the pockets of consumers across the continent.

Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said other countries could also lose supply, in a warning shot to governments across Europe, including Germany, where officials admitted to being worried. The EU imports around 40% of its gas from Russia.

A spokesperson for the German economic ministry said: “We are seeing with concern that there has been a stop of deliveries to European partner countries. We are coordinating closely within the European Union to consolidate the situation.”

He added that there were currently no signs that gas deliveries to Germany, which relies on Russia for 40% of its supply, were being affected but opposition MPs called on the government to enact an embargo of Russian gas now in anticipation of further stops.

“Russia needs to know: when they hit one of us, we all respond,” tweeted Norbert Röttgen of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). “Therefore an oil and gas embargo is now also a question of European solidarity!” [Continue reading…]