Russia's Gazprom suspended gas deliveries to Italy days after Georgia Meloni, the soon-to-be first female leader in the country’s history, publicly backed Ukraine.
“Giorgia Meloni, who will become Italy's new prime minister, previously said Putin 'threatens the security of the entire European continent' and that his annexation of four Ukrainian regions has 'no legal and political value'.
Putin has been at loggerheads with European countries over the supply of natural gas and has been accused of using the flow of gas needed for energy in the region as an economic weapon.
Most of Russian gas delivered to Italy passes via Ukraine through the Trans Austria Gas Pipeline (TAG), to Tarvisio in northern Italy on the border with Austria.
Gazprom later in the day said in a statement that the transportation of Russian gas through Austria had been suspended 'due to the refusal of the Austrian operator to confirm the transport nominations'.
'The reason is related to the regulatory changes that took place in Austria at the end of September’, it added.
Tensions reached new highs this week after leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines linking Russia and Germany spewed tonnes of methane into the Baltic Sea.
The Danish Energy Agency now says one of two ruptured natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea appears to have stopped leaking natural gas.
In Austria, regulatory authority E-Control said the new rules, which entered into force on Saturday, had been 'known to all market actors for months'.
It said it expected 'all to conform and take the necessary measures to fulfill their obligations'.
The problems were linked to 'contractual details' linked to the transit of gas towards Italy, it said on Twitter.
Before the war in Ukraine, Italy imported 95 percent of the gas it consumes - about 45 percent of which came from Russia.
Outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi has signed new deals with other gas producers to reduce Italy's reliance on Russia, lowered to 25 percent as of June, while accelerating a shift towards renewable energies.
The Nord 2 gas pipeline now appears to have stopped leaking into the sea, the Danish Energy Agency said on Twitter that it had been informed by the company operating the pipeline that pressure appears to have stabilized.
'This indicates that the leaking of gas in this pipeline has ceased’, the Danish Energy Agency said.
Undersea blasts that damaged the Nord Stream I and 2 pipelines this week have led to huge methane leaks. Nordic investigators said the blasts have involved several hundred pounds of explosives.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the West of sabotaging the Russia-built pipelines, a charge vehemently denied by the United States and its allies.
Speaking Friday in Moscow, Putin claimed that 'Anglo-Saxons' in the West have turned from imposing sanctions on Russia to 'terror attacks’, sabotaging the pipelines in what he described as an attempt to 'destroy the European energy infrastructure’.
The attacks on the pipelines have prompted energy companies and European governments to beef up security around energy infrastructure”. -Matt Powell, Daily Mail
Giorgia Meloni has begun about as poorly as a supposedly nominally nationalist leader possibly could.
The first indication of her insincerity occurred when she came out in favor of remaining a part of the EU, and the second was when she espoused support for Taiwanese independence.
Now that she has chosen to make statements that are pro-Ukraine and anti-Russia, Putin promptly selected to shut off Italy’s gas.
One can’t help but imagine that guaranteeing an energy scarcity for the Italian people this upcoming winter season to defy a genuine nationalist leader in Vladimir Putin will not bode well for her chances of remaining in power for a particularly long period of time.