Gazprom to suspend Russian gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria

Gazprom will suspend Russian gas supplies to Poland from 2:00 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Wednesday and to Bulgaria from 10:00 a.m. (0800 GMT), the energy giant said in a statement on Wednesday.

The move will likely ripple through the European gas market, as Poland and Bulgaria are both heavily reliant on Russian gas.

Gazprom said it had not received payment for gas deliveries in rubles from either country, as it had demanded. The company said it had sent official notices to both countries, informing them of its decision.

Poland's climate minister, Anna Moskwa, said the country was prepared for the suspension of gas supplies and had been working to diversify its gas sources.

"We have been preparing for this situation for several months. We have increased our gas storage, we have been diversifying our gas sources, and we have been working on energy efficiency," she said.

Bulgaria's energy minister, Alexander Nikolov, said the country would also be able to cope with the suspension of gas supplies.

"We have a number of alternative sources of gas that we can use, and we have been working to increase our storage capacity," he said.

The suspension of gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria is the latest in a series of tit-for-tat measures between Russia and the West over the war in Ukraine.

Russia has already cut off gas supplies to several European countries, including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

The European Union has accused Russia of using gas supplies as a political weapon and has been working to reduce its dependence on Russian energy.