russia is using natural gas, applies more and more openly, as a political weapon against e. u. countries. the country's state owned energy giant gas prom on wednesday. and as it had halted gas deliveries to poland and bulgaria, claiming the 2 countries had veiled to make due payments in roubles as demanded by the crown, the path of the mo, pipelines, clearly visible in poland forests. him all is just one of 4 natural gas pipelines built to transport russian gas to western europe. but for months now, the 5400 kilometer long pipeline has been largely empty. russian state own gas problem has been keeping a heavy hand on its gas taps. it's part of gas primes do strategic poker game to promote its influence in the energy world against the backdrop of russia's invasion of ukraine. to manage for duck. yeah, we have received threats from the russian federation and from gas problem. i guess from all the related with the method of payment for russian gas or something for

not you. poland will stick to the arrangement, sal, and perhaps russia will try to punish poland for it a little while up. just as much as i've emphasized many times i thought holland had previously prepared to diversify. gas applies, and to obtain gas from different suppliers. door diversity got c o, garzo, poland, and the 3 bolt countries were already looking for ways to become independent of russia's gas supply. before hostilities broke out lithuanian, poland have built their own liquefied natural gas ports. and now purchase ellen g from guitar, norway, and the u. s. north of postman in western poland, the amal pipeline meets the new baltic pipe from the west. the baltic pipe has been built with the help of denmark and the european union. it's expected to deliver natural gas from norway to poland very soon, and go into operation as early as the 2nd half of this year. that will make poland independent of russian gas. and it could also transport supply from the west to

ukraine. for some more analysis, let's bring in simone natalia up yet i he is a senior fellow at the brutal thinktank and he joins me from rome. welcome to the program, simona gas from is stopping gas deliveries to poland and bulgaria. how does it work? when russia turns off, the taps well does it indeed the what is happening or russia. wheeler simply diminish the volumes that are flowing through those pipeline. so by the amount that we're contracted with these countries, of course, so both the poland and bulgaria also are transit countries. so they, the pipeline continues to other countries and got from already made clear that if the 2 countries illegally take the gas from the pipelines,

then all the volumes will be stopped. how much difficulty does this step pose, tba, gary and poland? well, a bolen the get then be young cubic meters of gas per year from russia, which amounts to 50 percent of its consumption. but poland is in a good situation because 6 is 76 percent of its storage is full and the poland can tap into ellen gee to replace rush and gas. so this is not going to be such a shock in the short term for the current to, to come to can cope with these interruption. same goes for bulgaria, bulgaria, import 3 b. m cubic meters from russia, which makes it 90 percent of gas consumption. but since gas in bulgaria is predominantly used for eating, which is not necessary in the season,

then the country can cope with the situation. the short term. also because likely the grease bulgaria interconnect or a new pipeline will be open these here, which will be very important to the nurse in the storage of gas in bulgaria and get the country prepared for next winter simona. clearly this is intended as a signal by the kremlin to the rest of the block. how much of a warning do you believe it is? this is a single both the poland and bulgaria have contracts. we've got from that where, in any case, expiring vizier and both countries said they didn't want to renew them. so got from here, russia is sending a signal to other countries, starting with germany about their rouble. they meant request. i think the biggest threat facing europe now is that he's got fragmentation is the risk of certain

companies are following the russians indications. while others begin to the point, we should not let russia carry out these divide and rule strategy in europe. we should remain united and ever common european approach to these issue simona tarley, our piano of the brew will institute. thank you for your thoughts. thank you. it is to shanghai now. china is most popular city and commercial hub has been under a strict lockdown for about a month now. residents are only allowed to leave their homes in a few parts of the city. and while the port has been operation, many exports are not leaving shanghai because ford workers and truck drivers will transport the goods to and from the port are also affected by the doctor right now . around a 3rd of the $1800.00 container ships stuck in the world or in or around shang,

hi the cities har. lock dog is affecting global supply chains. many companies which produce in china haven't been getting their goods and parts from nearly 3 weeks. meanwhile, meanwhile, there's a plan underway to isolate dark workers in an attempt to keep shanghai port operational containers and loading cranes. as far as the i can see, shanghai business heart continues to beat amid the hard lock down. at least that's the plan. the idea was to isolate port workers like in a bubble, though, remain at the port entirely. no one would be allowed in port workers couldn't come into contact with any one, including truck drivers who need a negative test to enter. but port operations are still limited. truck drivers are being blocked entry due to the measures that's affecting container terminal

activity. once this law comes up on b as a result of the locked down, we can hardly get goods in and out from the port on to land that has led to enormous delays at the port so long that 0 martin the fuel. meanwhile, container ships have to wait longer just to get a birth in shanghai experts say this will also disrupt your pin supply chains in the long term. that's cause over type, hey, and d, w. so it's on hand for more. so there are worries that china's capital city city beijing might go into full lockdown if the situation gets worse. what is the latest? we know most of sy has been in law a locked down for nearly a month and did a half a new law of $30000.00 cases in a single day. in 3 weeks for other cities, klune, china's capital city baiting have put up their guard. 3 rounds of p c. r. testing had been launched in most districts in beijing in order to test 90 percent of the

cities 21000000 residents. and the city has suspended all big events and encourage people to work from hawk, the government issue a notice urgent people not to travel debating unless necessary. we talk to some of the local residents. they are worried that the situation is i will happen in beijing and we're in a certain lot down. so many people rush to supermarkets and stock up on food and other basic supplies like rice noodles and toilet papers. and so with dozens of chinese cities affected by lockdown measures, what is going to happen to china's economy? a number of investment banks have lowered their forecasts for china's economic growth due to the drag on the economy from the nearly month law city closure of size, we talked about the government's growth. target is 5.5 percent. everybody remembers a month ago, experts that is higher to keep 5 percent now is said to be 4 or 4.5 percent or even

lower than 4 percent. it's clear we'll see a disruption of supply to the overall economy, particularly in cities in full or partial lockdown. people there can return to work factories can easily return to production. students can return to school and those without a stable source of income may face more dire situations. and this may further, we can demand for homes durable goods and capital goods. and if we take a look at the bigger picture here, i mean, we've seen the disruptions ad shanghai poured at what are the consequences for world wide trade? china is a key production base that many countries around the world rely on, especially in terms of technology. manufacturing, some high or even begun in lockdown could affect the production of semiconductors, phones, cars, and even toys. we have seen a massive buildup of worlds, container stranded outside chinese ports among the countries most affected. the u.

s. imports about 20 percent of its goods and 35 percent of its electronics from china. problems in the chinese supply chain will affect the supply of the goods in the u. s. and therefore drive up the price of a range of products. that's why economists predict that inflation in the u. s. will further intensify. dw correspondent, so song han and tie, paid, so thank you. it takes between 5 and 8 weeks for these container vessels to make it from china to germany. so business here and elsewhere in europe are just starting to feel the problems. hamburg is a key destination for product ship from shanghai and other ports. now, many shipments are delayed for weeks bout miller has noticed the difference. he is director of purchasing for the whole. so a write her own back to motion. could you take a look at our main problem today? our current shipment of 12 containers were supposed to be loaded yesterday on the ship has departed from shanghai, but will make a stop along the way. was funny,

so that wasn't originally planned, but now days we have to live with everything and be grateful. what's on the way here, despite the current disruptions, customers should receive their orders on time. they don't even blender. sometimes a lot of production orders behind the small screws. the customers have large machinery that may be waiting for the final screws. when there's less time pressure, the company can turn to other chinese ports or order from other producers, including in europe. we've talked a lot to our suppliers and they try to improvise somehow such as using other ports . so we don't turn to other suppliers instead of shanghai, they might use ning though, which is situated further to the south. mean, boy compl august of items, you need the screws or then transport it to a different port by ship or truck if their suppliers, factories in china are still operating, but only to limited extent. don't. does it when there are various reasons people who have cove it or at home? some employees are not returning because they can't get through their work places

on the field to come. the company has gotten used to improvising but another large chinese city going into locked down could trigger more disruptions that social for now for more check out our website at d. w dot com slash business. i'm chris cockburn. roland, thanks for watching. ever self a successful with ah, with ah, ah,

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ah, this is dw news fly from berlin, new fronts and put ends war. russia has halted, gas applies to poland and bulgaria, ukraine. and you accused moscow of blackmail in europe. also coming up, russia makes territorial gains in eastern and southern ukraine. key says russian forces has captured several eastern villages as part of its offensive and the don boss region. and it is not known how many russians have been killed in the

conflict with families. they are also grieving as the cash.