European Commission president on termination of Russian energy giant Gazprom's supplies to Austria: We're prepared for this

Ulyana Krychkovska — Saturday, 16 November 2024, 17:52

President of the European Commission, has commented on the suspension of gas supplies to Austria by Russia's energy giant Gazprom.

Source: Von der Leyen on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda

Details: Von der Leyen reported that despite Russia's blackmail, Europe is prepared for winter and has gas reserves.

"Once again [Kremlin ruler Vladimir] Putin is using energy as a weapon. He is trying to blackmail Austria and Europe by cutting gas supplies. We are prepared for this and ready for the winter. Gas storage across the EU is full," the European Commission president stressed.

Background:

  • Earlier, the Austrian company gas firm OMV received a warning from Gazprom that gas supplies would be cut off on Saturday morning.
  • The suspension of Russian gas supplies to Austria came after OMV announced it would cease payments to Gazprom to cover the €230 million arbitration fee. This followed OMV's earlier warning of a possible supply disruption after an arbitration ruling in Vienna's favour, which ordered Russian Gazprom to pay the damages.
  • Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer emphasised that the country would not be left without natural gas during the heating season after Russia's Gazprom stopped supplying gas to the country.

Support UP or become our patron!