War

One thousand four hundred and seventy-first day. Putin threatened to stop gas supplies to the EU after an attack on a tanker in the Mediterranean Sea (Moscow blames Kyiv for it)

Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. We publish your letters every day because we are sure that we need to continue talking about the war. On February 28, the United States and Israel went to war with Iran. Do you think this will affect the world's attitude towards the Russian-Ukrainian war? Will she “fade into the background”, as some believe? Will it become even more difficult for Ukraine? And is it possible to compare an attack on Iran with a Russian attack on Ukraine? The feedback form is at the end of this article. A review of the previous day can be read here .

Vladimir Putin threatened to completely stop Russian gas supplies to Europe. He spoke after the Russian tanker Arctic Metagas, which was under American and European sanctions and was heading to China, sank in the Mediterranean Sea.

The ship sank on March 3 off the coast of Libya. The authorities of this country later reported that there were “sudden explosions” on it, after which it caught fire and soon sank. All crew members were rescued by another ship passing by.

The Russian Ministry of Transport stated the next day that the cause of the crash was an attack that was “committed, presumably, from the coast of Libya by unmanned Ukrainian boats.” The department did not provide any evidence of Kyiv’s involvement in the attack. There is no independent confirmation of this version yet. The Ukrainian authorities did not comment on the incident.

Russian gas carriers began changing routes after the attack. Thus, the tanker Buran, heading to the Indian Ocean, decided not to enter the Mediterranean Sea and instead took the long route around Africa. As The Bell notes , unlike oil tankers, the supply of gas carriers in the world is limited, so under sanctions, the loss of such a vessel is almost irreplaceable.

A day after the incident with Arctic Metagas, Putin said that it might be more profitable for Russia to stop gas supplies to Europe right now. He did not connect this idea with the loss of the gas carrier (and did not comment on the incident at all): according to the President of the Russian Federation, now is simply a good moment to reorient to other markets. Putin said there was “no political motive” in this.

They plan in a month [...] to introduce restrictions on the purchase of Russian gas, including liquefied gas, and a year later - in 2027 - even further restrictions, up to a complete ban. And now other markets are opening. And maybe it would be more profitable for us to stop supplies to the European market right now? Go to those markets that are opening and gain a foothold there?

Putin said he would instruct the government to “work through the issue” together with gas suppliers.

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the decision to stop supplies has not yet been made. He noted that “this is only a proposal.” “Everyone here acts to serve their own interests,” the Kremlin spokesman said.

Despite the war and sanctions, EU countries still remain major buyers of Russian LNG : in 2025, Russia provided 16% of all EU imports and was the second supplier of this type of fuel after the United States. The largest buyers of Russian LNG in Europe are France, Spain and Belgium.

At the same time, Russian gas exports through the pipeline are declining - in 2025 they fell by 44%, to the lowest level since the 1970s. Only Slovakia and Hungary buy pipeline gas from Moscow; the authorities of these countries are in conflict with Brussels over the decision to completely abandon the import of Russian gas at the EU level.

EU countries must stop buying Russian liquefied gas by the end of 2026, pipeline gas - from the fall of 2027. Already from mid-April (it was these restrictions that would come into force “in a month” that Putin spoke about) the EU will begin to implement a ban on the import of Russian LNG under new or short-term contracts.

Natural gas prices in Europe jumped by tens of percent after the start of the war between the United States and Israel with Iran - Qatar, one of the largest LNG exporters in the world, suspended the operation of its production plants due to drone strikes, and Iran announced a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's LNG supplies pass. In Europe, gas reserves in storage facilities are at their lowest level since 2022 due to a very cold winter.

War in photographs. Slavyansk

War through the eyes of Meduza readers

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Meduza's readers live in different countries and have different attitudes towards the war. We publish your letters to see this event through your eyes. Our editors try to present all points of view, even if they do not coincide with the editorial position. However, in accordance with the Meduza code, we do not publish messages that contain “hate speech,” justify the murder of civilians, or express direct support for an aggressive war.

Karina (Russia) . They often say in the Russian Federation (with restrictions on freedom, rising prices, and so on): “People are gobbling it up.” And I, indignant, did not understand how long people would “gobble” until I realized that these people included me.

And you know, I’ll eat, I’ll adapt, I’ll give up social networks, but I won’t install Max (this is my form of protest, it turns out). I will eat worse to pay bills and groceries. I'll work harder to buy clothes or something.

I personally grab everything, because if I openly start protesting, not only I will be under threat, but also my family, my colleagues, and friends. I eat because I want to live, and not because I support the war. And if hiding my opinions and emotions is the only way to survive, then I will hide.

But I know if protests start, I will join. Even if they shoot me (it’s better to die like that than in prison under torture). But for now I'm eating and waiting, like a timer bomb that's still counting down.

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