Ukraine: govt preparing for possible Russian gas reprisals says Draghi

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 1 - Premier Mario Draghi said Tuesday that his government was preparing for the possibility that Russia could cut off gas supplies in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
    "The government is working to mitigate the impact of eventual problems regarding energy supplies," Draghi said as he reported to the Senate on the Ukraine crisis.
    "At the moment there are no signals of the supply of gas being interrupted.
    "Nevertheless, it is important to asses every eventuality, given the risk of reprisals and a possible further stiffening of the sanctions". He said that Italy would have more to lose than other European countries if Russia decided to cut off gas supplies, while stressing that "this does not diminish our determination to support sanctions that we consider justified and necessary".
    He said Russia cutting off gas supplies would not be a problem in the short term.
    "Italy imports about 95% of the gas it consumes and over 40% comes from Russia," he said.
    "Even a complete interruption of gas flows from Russia, starting from the coming weeks, should not lead to problems in the short term.
    "Italy still has 2.5 million cubic metres of gas in stock and the arrival of warmer temperatures should mean lower consumption by families.
    "Our prediction is that we will be able to absorb peaks of demand via the volumes in stock and other importation capacities". (ANSA).