Russian gasoline: Europe is operating out of time to seek out options

Russian gas: Europe is running out of time to find alternatives

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Just 24 hours after Ukraine reduced the flow of natural gas across its territory into Europe, blaming interference by Russian troops, Gazprom suspended supplies through the Yamal-Europe pipeline running across Poland, and stopped sending gas to a distributor in Germany.

While the volumes affected are small, in total accounting for just a few percent of Europe’s overall gas consumption, each knock to supplies underscores the region’s vulnerability — and the urgent need for the European Union to untangle itself from Russia’s vast energy reserves.

“Now we start to see these different issues coming up, this is an illustration of why Europe should not take gas supplies for granted,” Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at think tank Bruegel, told CNN Business. “Governments need to act now as if they are in an emergency situation,” he added.

Russia imposed sanctions on 31 foreign companies on Wednesday, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. Gazprom Germania and EuRoPol Gaz, the…

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