If Russia were to cut off gas supplies to Europe amid tensions over Ukraine, Poland is better prepared than “other countries that are largely dependent on Russian gas, such as Germany”, says Polish deputy prime minister Jacek Sasin.
“The threats [to cut off gas supplies] are absolutely real,” Sasin, who also serves as minister for state assets, told Polskie Radio. “In Poland, we are prepared for such a scenario; [the rest of] Europe is worse [prepared].”
Sasin revealed that gas storage facilities in Poland are 80-90% full. He also noted that Poland has for years been seeking to diversify away from reliance on Russian supplies. “We hope that in the coming year we will become largely, or almost entirely, independent from Russia gas,” he added.
In 2019, Poland’s government announced that it would halt the permanent import of Russian gas once the current contract with Gazprom expires at the end of this year.
Instead, it has sought to increase imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar and the United States through a terminal in Świnoujście that opened in 2015, and has also almost completed work on the Baltic Pipe, which will bring Norwegian gas to Poland via Denmark.
Sasin said that the rest of Europe is worse off due to its continued dependence on Russian gas. He singled out Germany, where the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline is set to bring further supplies of gas from Russia pending final approval by the German authorities.
“This means a great potential threat to Europe,” said Sasin. Warsaw has consistently argued that Nord Stream 2 will give the Kremlin greater influence and earlier this month again appealed to Berlin to suspend the pipeline.
As fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine have mounted in past weeks, Poland has warned about possible avenues of hybrid warfare alongside a military assault.
“We are prepared for any other issues that may arise along with Russia’s actions in Ukraine,” said Sasin, who identified “cyberattacks or interruptions in the supply of energy resources” as two such possibilities.
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
