The European Union stands in solidarity with Poland and Bulgaria now that Russia has shut down the supply of gas to these two EU countries, the European Commission assures. “We are prepared for this scenario,” said President Ursula von der Leyen.

The Russian state-owned company Gazprom turned off the gas tap to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday morning. That is “another attempt by Russia to use gas as a tool for blackmail,” said von der Leyen. That is “unjustified and unacceptable” and “shows again that Russia is unreliable as a gas supplier”.

THE COMMITTEE CHAIR SAID the EU is working on a joint response to Russia’s move. Every EU country has prepared scenarios for scenarios like this. These have been coordinated with the other Member States, and, according to the German, they can count on each other. Gas has been provided from elsewhere, and as many reserves as possible have been built up.

“We outline our coordinated EU response,” said von der Leyen. A special gas advisory board of the committee is meeting to discuss this.

Gazprom cut Poland and Bulgaria off the gas because they do not want to pay in rubles. Most EU countries refuse to do so, also on the committee’s recommendation. He states that Russia is trying to alleviate the consequences of the sanctions against, for example, its central bank.