The energy issue was once again the focus of news about the war in Ukraine on Wednesday, April 27. The Gazprom company suspended its deliveries to two countries, provoking an immediate reaction from the European Union.
On the ground, Moscow claimed to have destroyed weapons delivered to Kyiv by its western allies. Franceinfo takes stock of what to remember from that day.
Gazprom suspends supplies to two countries…
Gazprom announced on Wednesday that it has suspended all of its gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland, two European Union member countries heavily dependent on Russian gas, as they have not made their payments in rubles, according to the Russian group.
This is the result of unprecedented hostile actions against Russia, the Kremlin said. For Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, this is “unacceptable blackmail” from Moscow and “a serious breach of contract.”
… and the EU takes over
Bulgaria and Poland are now being supplied with gas “by their neighbors in the European Union,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “The Kremlin is hurting the Russian economy because they (Russians) are depriving themselves of significant income,” she said.
European companies that agree to pay for Russian gas in rubles, as demanded by Moscow, are violating EU sanctions and exposing themselves to “high” legal risk, Ursula von der Leyen also warned.
Finally, the European Commission has proposed suspending all tariffs on Ukrainian products entering the EU for a year. This proposal still has to be approved by the European Parliament and the 27 Member States.
Moscow boasts of having destroyed western weapons
The Russian army, for its part, claimed to have destroyed by rocket fire a “large quantity” of weapons shipped by the United States and European countries to Kyiv in southeastern Ukraine. The Russian army also claims to have carried out airstrikes against 59 Ukrainian targets.
The Ukrainian army said it bombed Russian positions on Snake Island in the Black Sea, which has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
For their part, the authorities of the pro-Russian separatist republic of Transnistria in Moldova announced that a village on the border with Ukraine, which housed a large warehouse of Russian ammunition, was the target of shelling after drones flew over it.
Exchange of prisoners between Washington and Moscow
Former US Marine Trevor Reed, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia for violence, was swapped on Wednesday with a Russian pilot who has been imprisoned in the US since 2010.
“This represents no change – none – in the way we view the appalling violence in Ukraine,” a US official told AFP on condition of anonymity. The “conversations with the Russians that led to this exchange were strictly limited to these issues,” he assured.
Russia bans British MPs from entering the country
Finally, Russia has banned 287 members of the British Parliament from entering its territory in retaliation for a similar action by London against Russian MPs who supported the offensive in Ukraine.