Moscow - (AFP) - Russian giant Gazprom said Saturday it had halted gas shipments to Latvia, amid tensions between Russia and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and unprecedented European sanctions against Moscow.

The Russian company said in a statement on Telegram, "Today, Gazprom has suspended gas shipments to Latvia ... due to violation of the conditions for receiving gas," without further explanation.

The announcement comes as Gazprom this week dramatically cut Russian gas shipments to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline, citing the need for turbine maintenance as European countries seek to secure their reserves for the winter.

Russia reduced the volume of its shipments twice in June, stressing that the pipeline could not operate normally without a turbine that was undergoing maintenance in Canada and was not sent back to Moscow because of the sanctions.

Since then, Germany and Canada have agreed to return the turbine to Russia, but the turbine has not yet been delivered.

Westerners accuse Moscow of using energy as a weapon in response to a series of sanctions imposed on it after its military intervention in Ukraine on February 24.

For its part, the Kremlin asserts that the sanctions are the cause of the technical problems faced by the gas facilities, and that Europe suffers from the measures imposed on Russia.

"The process of maintaining technical equipment has become very difficult due to the sanctions adopted by Europe," spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed this week, stressing, however, that Gazprom "remains a reliable guarantor of its obligations" and will "deliver as much as is necessary and as much as possible."

Russian gas exports to Europe, especially to Germany and Italy, have been steadily declining since the imposition of sanctions. Gazprom also stopped gas deliveries to many European customers who refused to pay in rubles.

For their part, the Baltic states stopped importing Russian gas on April 1, according to Latvian storage company Conexus Baltic Grid.

Latvijas Gaze, Latvia's main natural gas buyer, said on Friday it had resumed gas purchases from Russia, without naming its suppliers but confirming that it pays for shipments in euros.

According to official data on gas flows published by Conexus, shipments of gas to the Latvian gas pipeline increased significantly since July 21, before suddenly stopping Friday.

Connexus confirmed to the Latvian news agency that Gazprom had told it to suspend deliveries, while ensuring that other suppliers would continue to deliver to it.

For her part, Economy Minister Ilse Endriksson told the agency that "Latvia did not depend on natural gas flows from Russia."
Latvia imports LNG from the world market using the Klaipeda port terminal in Lithuania, while the Baltic gas pipelines connect to the Polish and Finnish networks, making it independent of deliveries from Russia.
In an effort to prevent gas shortages next winter, the 27 members of the European Union on Tuesday approved a plan that requires each country to do "everything possible" to reduce its gas consumption by March 2023 by at least 15% compared to the average of the past five years during the period. itself.
Russia provided about 40% of the EU's gas imports until last year.