The Russian giant Gazprom announced this Saturday that it suspended gas supplies to Latvia, amid tensions between Russians and Westerners over the war in Ukraine and European sanctions against Russia. “Today Gazprom suspended the supply of gas to Latvia (…), due to the violation of the conditions” of gas purchase, the Russian company said in a statement published on Telegram.
Gazprom this week reduced its gas supply to Europe through the Nord Stream pipeline, citing maintenance work on a turbine.
The Russian giant had already cut twice in June the volume of its deliveries, invoking the absence of a turbine that was being repaired in Canada and that was not returned due to the sanctions imposed against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine launched on 24 February.
Germany and Canada agreed to return the turbine to Russia, but it has not yet been shipped. Westerners accuse Russia of using the gas cuts as retaliation for the sanctions adopted against it.
However, the Kremlin assures that the sanctions are what caused the technical problems of the gas infrastructure and that the Europeans are suffering the consequences of the measures imposed on Russia.
Russian gas exports to Europe have been in constant decline since the start of the sanctions. Gazprom has also stopped its gas deliveries to a number of European customers who have refused to pay in rubles.