Supplies of Russian gas to Poland have been stopped days after Putin threatened to turn off the taps to “hostile nations” if not paid in roubles, according to local media.
Broadcaster Polsat News says the contract agreeing to supply the nation, which has taken in around three million Ukrainian refugees since the invasion started, has been cancelled.
Poland’s Ministry of Climate is understood to have gathered a crisis team following the move.
It comes nearly a month after warmonger Vladimir Putin threatened to turn off the taps to countries seen as hostile to the Kremlin unless they start paying in Russian roubles, rather than dollars and pounds.
The deadline to change the currency is thought to have been last Friday.
It is unknown if today’s move is a result of the president’s ultimatum, although suppliers Gazprom refused to confirm the suspension of gas to Russia.
Anna Moskwa, Poland’s Minister of Climate and Environment, told the nation there would not be an interruption to supplies to homes as a result of the move.
She said on Twitter : “Poland has the necessary gas reserves and sources of supply that protect our security - we have been effectively independent from Russia for years.
“Our warehouses are 76% full. There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes.”
Earlier, on Tuesday, Piotr Naimski, Poland’s Government commissioner for strategic energy infrastructure, told a panel at the European Economic Congress, they would not agree to the demands.
He said: “We will not pay."
"Various possibilities and risks are being considered and we're prepared for them," Naimski added.
"If it is necessary, and if such a decision is made, we're able to cut ourselves off from the gas supplies at a moment's notice, and we're ready for Russian actions, including an interruption of supplies.”
Last month Putin threatened to turn off Europe's gas supplies unless Russia is paid in Roubles.
The war-mongering Russian leader said he had signed a decree saying foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas and in a televised address he said contracts would be halted if these payments were not made.
Putin said: "In order to purchase Russian natural gas, they must open rouble accounts in Russian banks.
"It is from these accounts that payments will be made for gas delivered starting from tomorrow.
"If such payments are not made, we will consider this a default on the part of buyers, with all the ensuing consequences.
"Nobody sells us anything for free, and we are not going to do charity either - that is, existing contracts will be stopped."
Putin's decision to enforce rouble payments for gas boosted the Russian currency, which fell to historic lows when the West applied sweeping sanctions after he sent his army into Ukraine on February 24.
But Western companies and governments have rejected the move as a breach of existing contracts, which are set in euros or dollars.
