Poland and Bulgaria are now receiving gas from their EU neighbours after Russia's state energy giant Gazprom turned off the taps, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday.
"We will ensure that Gazprom's decision has the least possible impact on European consumers," von der Leyen said.
"Today, the Kremlin failed once again in its attempt to sow division among member states. The era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe is coming to an end."
Gazprom has announced the halt of gas to both Poland and highly dependent Bulgaria after not receiving payment in rubles from the two EU members.
President Vladimir Putin said last month that Russia would no longer accept payments in currencies other than the ruble in retaliation for the West's economic sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Von der Leyen warned EU importers that, unless a supply contract was denominated in rubles, giving in to the Kremlin's demand and paying in rubles would contravene sanctions.
"This would be a breach of the sanctions, so a high risk for the companies," she said.
She said that "about 97 percent" of all EU contracts explicitly stipulate payments in euros or dollars.
Officials said energy ministers from across the bloc will meet on Monday to discuss the situation.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Diverted Air India Flight Takes Off For San Francisco Around 50 Indians Want To End Employment With Russian Armed Forces: Centre Air India Operates Relief Flight To Fly Passengers Stranded In Russia Over 300 Indian Students Return Home As 105 Bangladeshis Die In Protests "Jindal Group Executive Showed Porn, Groped Me On Flight": Woman To NDTV Full Recovery From Global IT Outage Could Take Time: 10 Points CrowdStrike Crash Raises Questions About Technological Dependency Army Readjusts Troop Deployment In Jammu Region To Counter Terror Attacks India Hints At Roles Of Pakistan, China That Could Undermine Shanghai Bloc Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.