War in Ukraine: the Russian group Gazprom announces that it will no longer deliver gas to Poland or Bulgaria

He decides to turn off the tap.

A strong and worrying decision for the rest of Europe which comes the day after the evocation of a “real danger of Third World War” by the head of diplomacy in the Kremlin, Sergei Lavrov.

The Russian group Gazprom will stop gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria from Wednesday, the Polish gas company PGNiG (the Polish public company for the production, extraction, transport and storage of gas) said on Tuesday evening. in a press release.

“On April 26, 2022, Gazprom informed PGNiG of its intention to completely suspend deliveries under the Yamal contract (…) on April 27,” PGNiG said, adding that Poland was prepared to obtain the missing gas from other sources.

At the same time, this Tuesday evening, Bulgargas EAD (the largest Bulgarian natural gas distribution company) announced that it had “received notification that deliveries from Gazprom Export will be suspended from April 27, 2022”, indicated the Ministry of Energy. 'Economy in a press release, while this Balkan country is heavily dependent on Russian gas.

Two-thirds of the gas consumed in Poland is of Russian origin

The decision to halt supplies also followed Poland's announcement earlier on Tuesday of sanctions against 50 entities and individuals, including Russia's largest gas company.

Read alsoRussian gas: why turning your back on Moscow is so complicated

About two-thirds of the gas consumed in Poland, or 10 billion m³, is delivered by Russia under the Yamal contract, according to La Libre.

However, according to PGNiG, the diversification of energy sources undertaken in recent years by Poland makes it possible to ensure the country's energy security and to put an end to the Yamal contract.

At a hastily organized press conference, Polish ministers said they had enough gas to withstand the shutdown, but accused Gazprom of breach of contract.

Poland had already pushed the European Union and other Western allies to go further by punishing the Kremlin for its invasion of Ukraine.

PGNiG, Poland's largest gas supplier, has already said it will take legal action for breach of contract.