The energy issue was once again at the center of the news of the war in Ukraine on Wednesday 27 April. The Gazprom company suspended its deliveries to two countries, provoking a prompt 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 this day.
Gazprom suspends deliveries to two countries…
Gazprom announced on Wednesday that it had suspended all its gas deliveries to Bulgaria and Poland, these two member countries of the European Union, very dependent on Russian gas, having according to the Russian group not made their payments in rubles.
This is the consequence of unprecedented hostile acts against Russia, for its part explained the Kremlin. For Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, this is a “unacceptable blackmail” of Moscow and“a serious breach of contract”.
… and the EU takes over
Bulgaria and Poland are now supplied with gas “by their neighbors in the European Union”, reacted the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. “The Kremlin is hurting the Russian economy because they (the Russians) are depriving themselves of significant income”she said.
European companies agreeing to pay for Russian gas in rubles, as demanded by Moscow, violate EU sanctions and expose themselves to “high” legal risk, Ursula von der Leyen also warned.
Finally, the European Commission has proposed suspending all customs duties on Ukrainian products imported into the EU for one year. This proposal still needs 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 firing missiles a “large quantity” of weapons delivered to kyiv by the United States and European countries, in the south-east of Ukraine. The Russian army also claims to have carried out air strikes against 59 Ukrainian targets.
The Ukrainian army said it had bombed Russian positions on Serpents’ Island in the Black Sea, which had become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
The authorities of the pro-Russian separatist republic of Transdniestria, in Moldova, for their part announced that a village bordering Ukraine hosting a large deposit of Russian ammunition had been the target of fire after being flown over by drones.
Exchange of prisoners between Washington and Moscow
Former US Marine Trevor Reed, sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia for violence, was exchanged on Wednesday with a Russian pilot who has been imprisoned in the United States since 2010.
“It represents no change – none – in our way of looking at the appalling violence in Ukraine”, commented to AFP an American official on condition of anonymity. The “discussions with the Russians that led to this exchange were strictly limited to these topics”he assured.
Russia bans entry of British parliamentarians
Finally, Russia has banned entry into its territory to 287 members of the Lower House of the British Parliament, in retaliation for a similar measure by London against Russian MPs who supported the offensive in Ukraine.