“Gazprom informed PGNiG of its intention to completely suspend supplies under the Yamal contract … on April 27,” the Polish state gas company said in a statement.
Poland and Bulgaria, members of NATO and the European Union, however, assured that there will be no shortage, as they prepared to obtain the missing gas from other sources.
“There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes,” Climate Minister Anna Moskwa said on Twitter. “From the first day of the war, we declared that we are ready for full independence from Russian raw materials,” she added.
To deal with the situation, the Bulgarian government declared for its part that it had carried out “actions to find alternative arrangements for the supply of natural gas”.
Bulgaria assures that “for the moment” no measure to restrict consumption is planned.
Following the adoption of sanctions against Russia by Western countries, the Kremlin warned that gas supplies would be cut off if they were not paid in rubles from Russian accounts.
However, Moscow clarified that the price of gas would remain in the currency of the current contracts, almost always in euros or dollars, and that customers would have to make a simple exchange operation in Russia.
“The Bulgarian side fully fulfilled its obligations and made all the payments required in the contract in due time,” the Bulgarian government said after Gazprom’s announcement.
The Balkan country also denounced “the new two-stage payment procedure proposed by the Russian side.”
“It does not conform to the current contract until the end of this year and presents significant risks for the Bulgarian side, such as making payments without receiving any gas delivery from the Russian side,” he added.