ENVIRONMENTALISTS urged European governments to free themselves from the grip of the climate-wrecking fossil fuel industry today after Russia stopped supplying gas to Poland and Bulgaria.

Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled gas company, announced that it was turning off the taps because the Polish and Bulgarian governments had refused to pay for the fossil fuel in roubles as President Vladimir Putin had demanded following Western sanctions that have cut off Russian access to about half its foreign currency reserves.

Though both nations are reliant on Russian gas, which makes up 45 per cent of Poland’s supplies and 90 per cent of Bulgaria’s, their governments insisted that there would be no immediate shortage.