MOSCOW (AFP/RT) – Russian energy giant Gazprom Saturday suspended gas supplies to Latvia following tensions between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and sweeping European and U.S. sanctions against Russia.
The declaration came a day after Moscow and Kiev accused each other of bombing a jail holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian-held territory, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying more than 50 were killed and calling the attack a war crime.
“Today, Gazprom suspended its gas supplies to Latvia... due to violations of the conditions” of purchase, the company said on Telegram.
Gazprom drastically cut gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline on Wednesday to about 20 percent of its capacity.
The Russian state-run company had earlier announced it would choke supply to 33 million cubic meters a day -- half the amount it has been delivering since service resumed last week after 10 days of maintenance work.
EU states say Russia is squeezing supplies in retaliation for Western sanctions over Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.
Gazprom cited the halted operation of one of the last two operating turbines for the pipeline due to the “technical condition of the engine”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has blamed EU sanctions for the limited supply.
Russia’s defense ministry on Friday accused Ukraine of striking a prison in Russian-held territory with U.S.-supplied long-range missiles, in an “egregious provocation” designed to stop captured soldiers from surrendering.
It said the dead included Ukrainian forces who had surrendered after weeks of fighting off Russia’s brutal bombardment of the sprawling Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol.
Zelensky laid the blame squarely on Russia.
“This was a deliberate Russian war crime, a deliberate mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war,” Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation late Friday. “Over 50 are dead.”
Zelensky said an agreement for the Azovstal fighters to lay down their arms, brokered by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, included guarantees for their health and safety and called on those two organizations to intervene, as guarantors.
Zelensky also urged the international community, especially the United States, to have Russia officially declared as a state sponsor of terrorism.
“A decision is needed, needed right now,” he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov for the first time since the beginning of the conflict Friday, urging Moscow against annexing any more Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces.