After Russia cut off supplies of natural gas to Bulgaria and Poland on Wednesday, a top German official said the flow of Russian gas to Germany remained steady, while adding that the country could live off existing reserves until at least the winter.

“In order to get through the winter without Russian gas, further work at full speed is needed,” said the official, Robert Habeck, who is Germany’s economic minister and vice-chancellor. He made the comments during a news conference at which he presented a new set of subsidies designed to help Germans offset higher energy costs.

He announced lower growth expectations for 2022, to 2.2 per cent from 3.6 per cent, mostly because of the increased cost in energy.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Russian gas made up 55 per cent of Germany’s gas imports, but that figure is now down to 35 per cent, according to Habeck. He said that Germany’s dependency on Russian gas was harder to overcome than it was for oil or coal.

Greece help

Greece said on Wednesday it would offer help to Bulgaria after Russia cut off its gas supply, and that it will make its own next payment to Russian gas producer Gazprom at the end of May, as scheduled.

Greece relies on Russian gas for more than 30 per cent of its annual energy needs and has a contract that runs until 2026. Gazprom said it had halted gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland.

New York Times News Service and Reuters