Russia turns off the gas

RUSSIA tightened its gas squeeze

on Europe last night with supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline set to halve.

Gazprom said flows from the biggest Russian gas link to Europe would fall to just 20 per cent from 4am tomorrow – down from an already reduced level – due to a turbine issue.

But Germany said it saw no genuine reason for the reduction, which was foreshadowed by Vladimir Putin in threats against the West last week. The EU has accused Moscow of resorting to energy blackmail amid warnings that Russia could cut off gas this winter, thrusting Germany into recession and hiking up prices.

It came as Putin’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov yesterday admitted that Moscow’s long-term goal was to topple the government, to ‘help Ukrainian people to get rid of the regime’, rather than expel neo-Nazis from the leadership as it claimed before.