Russia's gas supplies to Poland via the Yamal pipeline are said to have been halted

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Station of the Polish gas concern PGNiG

Photo: epa pap Miroslaw Trembecki / epa / dpa

According to Polish sources, Gazprom will stop supplying Poland with Russian gas via the Yamal pipeline.

The company PGNiG SA, which buys gas from the Russian utility, announced that the end of deliveries was announced for Wednesday.

PGNiG spoke of a breach of contract.

Steps would be taken to restore gas flow.

PGNiG has signed long-term contracts with Gazprom, but they expire this year.

Poland has repeatedly said it will not agree to Russia's demand to pay in rubles for gas bought from Gazprom.

The Russian government, in turn, had warned Europe that if it didn't pay in rubles, it risked a cut in gas supplies.

In March, Moscow issued a decree requiring energy buyers to open accounts with Gazprombank to make payments in euros or dollars, which would then be converted into rubles.

The European Commission had asked the companies to continue paying in the currency agreed in their contracts with Gazprom - 97 percent of the contracts are denominated in euros or dollars.

A halt to Russian gas supplies would not be a catastrophe for Poland.

And initially not for Germany either – although the flow from the Yamal pipeline, through which gas is transported from Russia via Poland to the Federal Republic, could now run dry.

But after all, this pipeline is only one of three main Russian gas pipelines in the direction of Germany.

And of these three, it's the least important. Gas flows through this pipeline have been low or zero at times for the past few months.

The government in Warsaw had already announced that it would not renew the contract with Gazprom, which expires at the end of 2022.

The times when Russia was the only dominant accelerator for Poland are over.

For years, those responsible in Polish politics and business have worked to reduce their dependence on Russian supplies.

An LNG terminal opened in Świnoujście near the German border as early as 2015.

So far, this has been able to cover around a quarter of Poland's total gas requirements.

The terminal is currently being expanded and should be able to cover a good 35 percent of demand after completion, which is planned for the coming months.

Poland's Climate and Environment Minister, Anna Moskwa, reacted correspondingly calmly: "Poland has the necessary gas reserves and sources of supply that protect our security - we have been practically independent of Russia for years.

Our warehouses are 76 percent full," she tweeted.

And: »There will be no lack of gas in Polish households.« For comparison: in Germany the level is almost 33 percent.

Poland has imported little gas from Russia in recent months.

In the coming autumn, by the end of the year at the latest, the Baltic Pipeline is also scheduled to go into operation.

This other Baltic Sea pipeline runs from Norway through Denmark to Poland and can transport 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year, around half of the national consumption.

Other lines connect Poland with Germany and the Czech Republic.

In addition, a pipeline to Lithuania is to go into operation, connecting Poland to the Lithuanian LNG terminal Klaipeda.

Putin and Gazprom don't have much to lose by cutting off gas to Poland.

However, the move can be seen as a sign against Poland's arms sales to Ukraine.

And Moscow can set an example on the issue of ruble payments - and send a warning signal to other arms suppliers in the West.

The step is also likely to stir up new unrest on the European gas market, which is driving prices up again, which have recently been somewhat weaker.

And yet Russia can continue to serve its most important customer in Europe: Germany.

With material from the Reuters agency