Russia's Gazprom said on Saturday it had halted gas shipments to Latvia, at the height of tension between Russia and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and unprecedented European sanctions on Moscow, accusing it of violating the terms of gas withdrawals.

"Today, Gazprom suspended gas shipments to Latvia... due to a violation of the terms of gas delivery," the Russian company said in a statement on Telegram, without further explanation.

Russia has already cut gas supplies to Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark, which have refused to pay for gas in line with an order by President Vladimir Putin requiring ruble accounts to be opened in a Russian bank under a new scheme.

Russia also halted gas sales to Shell Energy Europe in Germany.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Gazprom did not specify the terms of the gas withdrawal, which it claims Latvia has violated.

Gazprom's move comes a day after the Latvian energy company Gazprom announced that it buys gas from Russia and pays for it in euros, and not in rubles, as Gazprom requires from its dealers.

But a spokesman for Latvia Gas said - yesterday, Friday - that the company buys gas from Russia, not Gazprom.

The company did not mention the name of the entity that supplies it with gas for reasons of confidentiality, and it also warned that there are other companies that receive gas directly from Russia.

It is noteworthy that Russia supplies Latvia with about 1.6 billion cubic meters of gas annually, and Latvia is scheduled to ban imports of Russian gas starting from next January.

In March, Putin said that Russia - the world's largest producer of natural gas - would ask countries it classifies as "unfriendly" in relation to their position on the conflict in Ukraine to pay for pipeline gas in rubles.


Worst warning

For her part, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Russia has partially reduced, or completely stopped, gas supplies to 12 countries in the European Union so far.

In an interview with a Portuguese newspaper, von der Leyen called on European countries to prepare for the worst scenario, which may be a further reduction, or complete cessation, of Russian fuel supplies.

Earlier, the European Commissioner warned that compliance with Putin's order could constitute a violation of European Union sanctions imposed on Moscow, and urged EU companies to continue paying in the currency agreed upon in their contracts with Gazprom, which is mostly euros or dollars.

Westerners accuse Moscow of using energy as a weapon to respond to a series of sanctions imposed after its military intervention in Ukraine on February 24.

For its part, the Kremlin asserts that sanctions are the cause of the technical problems faced by gas facilities, and that Europe is therefore suffering from the measures it imposes on Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed this week that "the process of maintaining technical devices has become very difficult due to the sanctions adopted by Europe," stressing, however, that Gazprom "remains a reliable guarantor of its obligations" and will "deliver as much as is necessary and as far as possible."

According to official data on gas flows published by Conexus, shipments of gas to the Latvian gas pipeline have increased significantly since July 21, before suddenly stopping Friday.

In an effort to prevent gas shortages next winter, the 27 members of the European Union agreed - on Tuesday - to a plan that states that each country will do “everything possible” to reduce its gas consumption by March 2023 by at least 15%, compared to the average years. the past five during the same period.