GAZPROM: Poland continues to buy Russian gas – via Germany

MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) – Despite the cessation of direct deliveries, Poland continues to buy Russian gas, according to the energy giant GAZPROM – now via Germany. “It was solemnly announced that Russian gas is no longer needed and will not be bought. But in reality this is not the case,” GAZPROM spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said on Thursday, according to the Russian agency Interfax. According to Kupriyanov, around 30 million cubic meters of gas flow from Germany back to Poland every day via the Yamal-Europe pipeline.

GAZPROM confirmed on Wednesday that it would no longer supply gas to Poland or Bulgaria. The Russian state-owned company justified the delivery stop by saying that the gas companies in both countries had not paid in rubles on time. Sofia and Warsaw, on the other hand, emphasized that they had fulfilled their payment obligations. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke of a “direct attack” on his country. At the same time, he stressed that Poland had enough gas reserves.

At the end of March, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin demanded that Western countries open accounts with Gazprombank effective April 1 in order to pay for Russian gas supplies. Otherwise, deliveries to the “unfriendly” countries would stop. According to a decree signed by Putin, the invoice amounts can still be paid into the Russian account in euros or dollars. Gazprombank converts the money into rubles and transfers the amount in Russian currency to GAZPROM. If the payments were not made, deliveries would be stopped, Putin had threatened.

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