Halting gas supplies is Kremlin’s provocation

Amid escalating tensions with Western powers, Russia has cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria after they refused to pay in rubles, rather than dollars or euros.

The European Commission described the decision to halt gas supplies as attempted “blackmail” and said it was coordinating a response among EU member states.

Russian state energy giant Gazprom told Bulgaria that it would shut off gas supplies immediatly, Bulgaria’s energy ministry said in a statement.

The announcement sent US natural gas futures up about 3%. European gas prices also jumped nearly 20%, according to Reuters.

Officials say Poland and Bulgaria were preparing for this possible move and are not experiencing shortages yet.

Separately, scores of people have fled areas around the city of Kherson, Ukraine, a region that has been terrorized in the past week by Moscow’s offensive.