Russia's state-owned natural gas company Gazprom will end its natural gas deliveries to Austria this weekend, the country's largest energy supplier, OMV said on Friday.

OMV announced that Gazprom will stop supplying it with gas on Saturday.

The Austrian energy company said it had expected this development and that the country will continue to get gas through import from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the country has a secure supply of alternative fuel and that "no one will freeze."

"The supply is secure," Nehammer said in an appearance at the chancellery to address the situation. 

"Our gas storage facilities are full and we have sufficient capacity to obtain gas from other regions," he added.

Most of Austria's gas supply is Russian

Austria's energy relationship with Russia dates back to the Cold War, as it was one of the first Western European countries to import gas from the Soviet Union in 1968.

The end of Russian gas deliveries to Austria follows an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce, that awarded OMV some €230 million ($242 million) in a contractual dispute with Gazprom.

OMV then said it would stop paying Gazprom until it received an amount of gas equivalent to the €230 million that the Russian company owed them.

Austria gets most of its natural gas from Russia, as much as 98% in December 2023, according to Energy Minister Lenore Gewessler.

No change to Ukraine policy

Since the war in Ukraine began in 2022, only three European countries —Austria, Slovakia and Hungary — continued to import Russian gas via a pipeline that travels through Ukraine, despite the Russian invasion.

But Ukraine announced it will not continue gas transit on the pipeline after January 1, 2025, which would force those countries to find other suppliers.

Nehammer said in a statement on Friday that despite the halt in gas deliveries, his country would not change its Ukraine policy.

"We will not be blackmailed and will not be brought to our knees," he said. 

Nehammer accused Gazprom of not fulfilling its delivery obligations on several occasions, with the goal of exerting pressure on Austria for its support of EU sanctions against Russia. 

jcg/ab (dpa, Reuters, AP)