Poland announced on Tuesday that it was preparing to impose sanctions on 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, as Polish media report that Russia has stopped gas deliveries to the country, causing European gas prices to get hit with a double-digit surge.
Poland's One.pl online news channel reported that Russia had suspended gas supplies to Poland under the Yamal contract, citing off-the-record sources claiming that the Ministry of Climate has now gathered its crisis team to deal with the situation.
The Polish news agency said that there had been no announcement from Russia, though Russian President Vladimir Putin had threatened to cut Poland off from gas.
An official announcement is expected from the Polish authorities later today, according to One.pl.
Earlier on Tuesday, Poland's Interior Minister said the country would impose sanctions on 50 oligarchs and companies after passing a law earlier this month that would allow the authorities to freeze Russian assets and ban imports of Russian coal, Reuters reported.
Moscow earlier demanded that Europe switch to paying for Russian gas in rubles or face supply suspensions. Poland has refused to comply with this demand.
European natural gas futures were trading 4% higher on the day (as of 12:36pm EST).
Outside of Ukraine itself, Poland is the European country most relentlessly pushing a halt to imports of Russian oil, gas and coal across the bloc, hoping to strangle Putin's war chest. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki launched a highly public mobile billboard campaign last attempting to garner more public support for the sacrifices necessary to "#stopRussianoil".
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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