Russian gas supplies to Europe have been stopped indefinitely, an announcement which will raise fears of a winter energy war.

State-owned energy giant Gazprom said ‘malfunctions’ meant a planned shutdown for maintenance will last longer than expected.

The firm did not give a timeline for when energy supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will resume. 

Despite urgent efforts to wean itself off Russian gas, the continent will continue to rely on it to some extent during the cold months ahead.

The pipeline has been running at around 20% capacity for weeks and there has been a stand-off over a faulty turbine which was sent to Canada for repairs. 

Moscow has blamed Western sanctions for delays to fixing supposed mechanical problems with the pipeline but Berlin has disputed this, previously claiming it had not seen evidence of a mechanical failure. 

Full operations were due to resume today but a statement from the company announced a change of plan.

The announcement of an indefinite halt to operations came hours after G7 countries and the European Union backed a price cap on Russian energy in a bid to deprive its government of badly need finance.

The timing will raise suspicions the extended shutdown is motivated by geopolitical calculations rather than simple maintenance issues.

Western governments have been preparing for Vladimir Putin to use his energy leverage and inflict further cost of living misery on Europe.

The war in Ukraine is a major factor in the recent steep rises in gas prices, which have pushed household bills up by thousands of pounds and fuelled record-breaking inflation. 

It has long been feared the Kremlin could seek to exploit Europe’s reliance on energy imports to test the resolve of the pro-Kyiv alliance and push for sanctions to be lifted.

The European Union will hope to have done enough to weather whatever storm may come this winter, including meeting a target to raise gas storage levels across the bloc to 80% capacity two months ahead of schedule.

Britain is far less reliant on Russian energy imports than countries like Germany and Italy but any shock to supply on the continent will inevitably have an impact on prices at home.

Earlier in the year, the German government confirmed it would shelve plans for a second gas pipeline project planned with Russia in response to the assault on Ukraine.

UK ministers are reportedly working on contingency plans should the Russian gas pipe be turned off completely this winter, reportedly up to and including the imposition of planned blackouts. 

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