Russian energy giant Gazprom on Saturday has made an announcement about suspension of gas supplies to Latvia after tensions between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and sweeping EU and U.S. sanctions against Russia.
The announcement came a day after Russia and Kyiv puts allegation on each other of bombing a jail holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian-held territory, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying more than 50 were killed and calling the attack a war crime.
The gas giant took it to Telegram to announce that, “Today, Gazprom suspended its gas supplies to Latvia… due to violations of the conditions” of purchase.
Gazprom cut gas deliveries to Europe through the Nord Stream pipeline Wednesday to about 20% of its capacity.
The Russian state-run company had earlier made an announcement that it would choke supply to 33 million cubic metres on a per day basis- half the amount it has been delivering from the time since service resumed last week following 10 days of maintenance work.
European states have blamed Russia for squeezing supplies in move of retaliation for Western sanctions over Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.
Gazprom has mentioned the halted operation of one of the last two operating turbines for the pipeline because of the “technical condition of the engine”.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has alleged EU sanctions for the limited supply.
Peskov added, “Technical pumping capacities are down, more restricted. Because the process of keeping technical devices is made extremely hard by the sanctions adopted by Europe.”
He mentioned that “Gazprom was and remains a reliable guarantor of its obligations… but it can’t guarantee the pumping of gas if the imported devices cannot be maintained because of European sanctions.”
The European Union this week agreed on a plan to reduce gas consumption in solidarity with Germany, where the Nord Stream pipeline runs to, warning of Russian “blackmail”.