Russian state-run natural gas giant Gazprom said it was completely suspending gas deliveries to French gas and power group Engie, heightening concerns over energy supplies to Europe as the Nord Stream 1 pipeline shuts for maintenance.
Gazprom said late on August 30 that the cutoff of the Engie supplies was because of missed payments.
"Gazprom Export has notified Engie of a total suspension of gas supplies from September 1, 2022, until the full receipt of the financial sums due for the deliveries," Gazprom said in a statement published on Telegram.
Earlier, Engie said it was informed by Gazprom on August 30 that a reduction would occur immediately. It did not any details on the nature of the dispute with Gazprom.
It said that Russian gas supplies had already been reduced substantially since Moscow launched its unprovoked war on Ukraine in late February.
"Very clearly Russia is using gas as a weapon of war and we must prepare for the worst case scenario of a complete interruption of supplies," France's Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told France's Inter radio.
Engie said it had taken action to protect itself.
"Engie had already secured the volumes necessary to meet its commitments towards its customers and its own requirements, and put in place several measures to significantly reduce any direct financial and physical impacts that could result from an interruption to gas supplies by Gazprom," Engie said in its statement.
Europe is already on notice that Gazprom will shut off the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to Germany from August 31 to September 2 for maintenance.
The outage has fueled fears that Russia is curbing supply to put pressure on Western nations and break their unity in sanctioning Russia for its war against Ukraine, a charge Moscow denies.
Russia's disruption and reduction in supply has sent gas prices soaring and forced European governments to scramble for alternative supplies ahead of the winter.