Austria's biggest energy supplier is trying to recover damages awarded during arbitration from Gazprom by essentially stopping some payment for gas supplied via Ukraine.

Moscow's suspension of gas for Austria, the main receiver of gas via Ukraine, means Russia will now only supply significant gas volumes to Hungary and Slovakia, in Hungary's case via a pipeline running mostly through Turkey. In contrast, Russia met 40% of the European Union's gas needs before Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian energy company Gazprom abruptly halted deliveries of natural gas to Austria on Saturday following a legal dispute over supply interruptions. The stoppage was confirmed to dpa by Austrian energy company OMV spokeswoman Sylvia Shin.

Russia - before its invasion of Ukraine - was the biggest single supplier of natural gas to Europe. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Austria's chancellor says Russia’s state-owned natural gas company Gazrom will cut off supplies early Saturday to Austrian utility OMV.

By Jan Lopatka and Vladimir Soldatkin PRAGUE/MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian gas appeared to still be reaching Austria despite Gazprom cutting off flows to top Austrian importer OMV over the weekend due to a contractual dispute,

STORY: Russia's invasion of Ukraine roiled the energy supply network of Europe as EU nations outraged by the war looked to buy gas supplies elsewhere. But enduring European demand for cheap Russian gas was apparent after Russia's state energy firm Gazprom over the weekend halted fuel deliveries meant for Austria,