MOSCOW: Russian gas producer Gazprom said on Saturday it had stopped sending gas to Latvia after accusing it of violating supply conditions, a move the Baltic country said would have little impact on its gas supplies.

Russia has already cut off gas supplies to Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark, which refused to pay for gas in line with an order by President Vladimir Putin requiring rouble accounts to be set up in a Russian bank. Russia has also halted gas sales to Shell Energy Europe in Germany.

“Today, Gazprom suspended its gas supplies to Latvia... due to violations of the conditions” of purchase, the company said on Telegram.

The Russian state-run company had earlier announced it would choke supply to 33 million cubic metres a day — half the amount it has been delivering since service resumed last week after 10 days of maintenance work.

European Union states have accused Russia of squeezing supplies in retaliation for Western sanctions over Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.

Gazprom cited the halted operation of one of the last two operating turbines for the pipeline due to the “technical condition of the engine”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has blamed EU sanctions for the limited supply.

The EU this week agreed a plan to reduce gas consumption in solidarity with Germany, where the Nord Stream pipeline runs to, warning of Russian “blackmail”.

Edijs Saicans, deputy state secretary on energy policy at the Latvian Economy Ministry, said Gazprom’s move would have little effect given that Latvia has already decided to ban Russian gas imports from Jan. 1, 2023. “We do not see any major impacts from such a move,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2022