European nations accuse Russia of natural gas ‘blackmail’

A view of the business tower Lakhta Centre, the headquarters of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom in St Petersburg, Russia (Dmitri Lovetsky/AP)

Polish and Bulgarian leaders have accused Moscow of using natural gas to blackmail their countries after Russia’s state-controlled energy company stopped supplying their countries with gas.

European Union leaders echoed those comments and were holding an emergency meeting on the Russian move.