Reuters reports that on Monday, May 23rd Poland announced that it had ended its agreements with Russia to import their gas through the Yamal pipeline.
Poland’s Climate Minister Anna Moskwa reported to the Polish news company, PAP, that this decision had no effect on the gas transport from Germany to Poland through the same pipeline. Moskwa expressed that the government had always believed that the Russian state-owned Gazprom was not a reliable partner.
In April, after Poland refused to comply with Russia’s demand for gas payments to be carried out in Rubles, supplies were cut off. Moskwa said that because most contracts were set to be executed in euros or US dollars, Russia refusing to supply products caused a breach in their contracts. Additionally, in the past Poland had already announced their intention to end contracts with Russia after it expired at the end of this year.
Spokesman for the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov did not provide details on contractual discussions with foreign partners, including Poland, only stating that they will be reviewing the consequences of this ended partnership.
When gas flow from Russia into western Europe has been interrupted, Poland has used the Yamal pipeline by reversing the flow to receive gas from Germany. The section of the pipeline located in Poland linking Russia to western Europe is owned by the partnership of Gazprom and the polish PGNiG but is operated by a polish state-owned company.
Moskwa reported to the same news company that the agreements between governments and Russia that are in breach of European law and sanctions should be ended. Russia’s war on Ukraine continues as does the global effort for countries to become completely independent of Russian gas and other energy products.
Piort Naimski, in charge of Poland’s energy security, publicly announced that efforts would begin to end Russian contracts earlier in May but nothing official would occur until today.
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