BERLIN — On the eve of a European Union emergency meeting on cutting natural gas consumption, Russia’s state-owned gas monopoly said Monday that it would slash gas deliveries to Germany, as Russian President Vladimir Putin once again showed his unpredictability and his power to inflict pain on the bloc for backing Ukraine.
EU energy ministers are set to meet Tuesday to weigh a 15% reduction in gas use, specifically because of fears that the Kremlin could create artificial shortages threatening heat and power generation over the winter. As if to confirm such worries, Gazprom, the Russian company, on Monday said it would cut by half the flow through its North Sea pipeline to Germany to just 20% of capacity — less than a week after resuming limited flows following a maintenance shutdown.
©2019 New York Times News Service