Russia's gas monopolist, Gazprom, recently stopped supplying natural gas to Austria via Ukraine – a route that had been in operation for decades. Why Moscow cut off one of its key European customers and what this means for gas transit through 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.

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.

STORY: Russia halted gas deliveries to Austria on Saturday (November 16), hours after Vienna said Moscow had given notice it would cut off flows.But Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom continued to pump steady volumes to Europe via 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.

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

Russia halts gas supplies to Austria amidst a payment dispute, but maintains steady gas flow to Europe via Ukraine. The move follows arbitration in favor of Austria's OMV. Meanwhile, Europe seeks alternatives to reduce dependence on Russian gas,

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

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,