Ukraine-News: Russia stops gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria - This is how Germany and the EU react

Created: 04/27/2022Updated: 04/27/2022, 17:01

By: Patricia Huber

Ursula von der Leyen: The EU Commission President does not want to be blackmailed by Russia.

© Olivier Hoslet/dpa

Russia has stopped gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, sending a warning to Europe.

But the EU is against it.

Warsaw/Sofia - The Russian gas company Gazprom has turned off the gas supply to Poland and Bulgaria.

Natural gas deliveries were stopped on Wednesday night (April 27).

Russia's justification: the two countries had refused to pay for the deliveries in rubles.

But what are the consequences for Poland and Bulgaria, but also for Europe and Germany?

Gas supply stop: Supply of Poland and Bulgaria is currently not at risk

First the good news: Poland's gas storage facilities are well stocked, so dependence on Russia is not too great.

In addition, Poland is already preparing to switch to gas from Norway.

The country already has an LNG terminal capable of storing, converting and feeding LNG.

In addition, a pipeline is to be completed soon.

"The delivery stop is very manageable for Poland in the short term," explains energy expert Georg Zachmann from the Bruegel Institute to the

.

Bulgaria was also not hit so hard by the delivery stop, as the country only consumes a relatively small amount of gas.

In addition, Bulgaria has also taken steps towards an alternative gas supply.

This was announced by the Ministry of Energy in Sofia on Tuesday evening.

A connection to the gas network in neighboring Greece should be ready in June.

Ukraine news: Russia wanted gas payments in rubles

At the end of March, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin demanded that Western countries open accounts with the Gazprom Bank effective April 1 in order to pay for Russian gas supplies.

Otherwise these would be set for the "unfriendly" countries.

That has now happened, but from a legal point of view this procedure is not legal.

In the contracts between Russian and European gas companies, payments are always made in euros and dollars, rubles are not mentioned.

In Germany, a gas stop from Russia has been discussed since the start of the Ukraine war.

But the dependency is great and a complete stop to deliveries could have serious economic consequences.

But the message that Russia is sending to Poland and Bulgaria with the delivery stop is clear: President Vladimir Putin could also turn off the gas supply to Germany and other large member states such as Italy that have been dependent on Russian gas at any time.

Ukraine-News: EU will not be blackmailed by Putin

Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said he had spoken to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about stopping Russian gas supplies.

“I want to assure all Bulgarian citizens that they should rest easy: there is a clear plan.

The European answer will be a joint one,” said Petkov before a government meeting.

"We will not give in to such blackmail," he said.

EU Commission President von der Leyen also found clear words: "Gazprom's announcement that it would unilaterally stop gas supplies to customers in Europe is another attempt by Russia to blackmail Europe." Gas from their EU neighbors.” The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, also made it clear in a tweet that Europe would not allow itself to be blackmailed by Putin.

She also pledged support to Poland and Bulgaria.

Gas delivery stop: "Anyone who has the choice will in future do without Russia as a supplier"

The gas supplies are a welcome leverage for Russia.

The stop of deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria once again makes Europe's dependency clear.

But since 2014, some EU countries have been working to become less dependent on Russian gas, according to the

.

For this purpose, pipelines were equipped in such a way that gas can flow in both directions.

This is already happening at the moment and Germany is supplying gas to Poland in this way.

In addition, such actions make Russia an absolutely unreliable energy trading partner.

"Anyone who has the choice will in future do without Russia as a supplier," explains economist Matthias Keupp to

The EU states have committed themselves to solidarity and apparently do not want to be blackmailed - Putin's hope of driving a wedge into the EU is not working - at least for the time being.