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ENERGY

What would France do if Russia cuts off the gas supply?

French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire has said that the country is making "preparations" should Russia decide to cut off the gas supply.

French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire announced that France was preparing for the possibility that Russia might cut off the gas supply.
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire announced that France was preparing for the possibility that Russia might cut off the gas supply. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / POOL / AFP)

France and Germany are preparing for a cut in Russian gas deliveries, France’s economy minister said on Thursday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Moscow will turn off the taps for those who refuse to pay in rubles.

“On the sanctions against Russia, we will not accept the payment of gas in any other currency than stated in the contract,” said Bruno Le Maire following talks in Berlin with his German counterpart Robert Habeck.

“There could be a situation tomorrow in which there is no longer any Russian gas. It’s up to us to prepare for these scenarios and we are preparing.” 

On Tuesday the head of France’s main gas distribution network, Laurence Poirier-Dietz, said the government may be required to pass a load-shedding decree, in which parts of the country have gas cut off on a rotating basis to ration supply. Hospitals, schools and retirement homes would be spared. 

“We have enough gas coming from other sources and supplies to get by until next winter,” she said in an interview with Sud-Ouest

“The question will be asked about how to fill reserve stocks during the summer.” 

French newspaper Les Echos report that filling the reserve stocks would cost in the region of €10 billion. 

France has the option of importing gas from other countries like Norway, Libya or Azerbaijan. It also has its own supplies of subterranean gas in the northern département of Pas-de-Calais and a number of methane plants, the biggest of which is in Seine-et-Marne. 

“We can try to stimulate investment and double production capacity,” said Carole Mathieu a researcher with the French Institute of International Relations, during an interview with France Info. “That would bring us to 40 billion cubic metres at the European level, but Russia produced 155 billion cubic metres last year. There is work to do.”

The French government said that load-shedding would be a last resort. 

Earlier in March, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced that the government would seek to end French dependency on Russian gas and oil supplies by 2027. 

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UKRAINE

France charges two Moldovans over coffin graffiti in Paris

French prosecutors on Saturday charged two Moldovans suspected of painting coffins and a slogan urging an end to Ukraine war on the facade of a prominent Paris newspaper, a judicial source said.

France charges two Moldovans over coffin graffiti in Paris

It was just the latest in a series of such acts in the capital in recent weeks. French officials have repeatedly warned of the risks of disinformation and other attacks by Russia over France’s support for Kyiv.

Tension between Paris and Moscow has increased since President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this year he had not ruled out sending troops to Ukraine.

The two men, who carried Moldovan passports, were arrested overnight Thursday-Friday after six red coffins and the phrase “Stop the Death, Mriya, Ukraine” were painted on the building of right-wing daily Le Figaro. Mriya means “dream” in Ukrainian.

They are being held on charges of destruction of property and participating in “an effort to demoralise the army to harm national defence in peacetime”, the source said.

Six similar coffins were found early Thursday on the facade of the Agence France-Presse headquarters in central Paris, not far from the Figaro offices.

A source close to the case said the two Moldovans claimed to have been paid around €100 to paint the graffiti.

A separate investigations has been opened after graffiti showing French Mirage fighter jets in the form of coffins were found last Tuesday in three districts of Paris. They included the phrase “Mirages for Ukraine”.

Similar graffiti was discovered on the walls of the AFP building Monday.

Macron announced in early June that France would send Mirage-2000 fighter jets to Ukraine and train their Ukrainian pilots as part of a new military cooperation with Kyiv.

On June 8, French police said they were holding three young Moldovans suspected of being behind inscriptions of coffins in Paris with the slogan “French soldiers in Ukraine”.

They were later charged with property damage and released.

Moldova’s Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi posted on X, formerly Twitter: “We regret and firmly condemn the incident”.

He said the “vandalism” was “part of hybrid tactics to harm our international image”.

Popsoi reiterated his comment on Saturday, denouncing an “instigation to hate”.

“We call on Moldovan citizens to be vigilant and not to allow themselves to be manipulated to the detriment of our country.”

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