(ANSA-AFP) - ROME, JUN 17 - Italy's Eni said it will receive only 50 percent of the gas requested Friday from Gazprom, following accusations by Rome the Russian state-backed company was peddling "lies" over a series of cuts. "Gazprom has announced that it will supply only 50 percent of what is requested (with actual delivered volumes almost unchanged with respect to the amounts delivered yesterday)," reducing supplies for the third day running, Eni said in a statement. Several European countries, including Italy and Germany, are highly reliant upon Russian gas for their energy needs. As tensions rage with the West over the Ukraine war, Russia has stepped up the energy pressure, slashing gas supplies to the continent in a move blasted as "political" by both Italy and Germany.

France has not received any natural gas from Russia via pipeline since June 15, network operator GRTgaz said Friday, after Russian energy giant Gazprom warned this week it would sharply cut deliveries to Europe. Gazprom said the supply reductions via the Nord Stream pipeline are the result of repair work, but EU officials believe Moscow is punishing allies of Ukraine, where Russian forces launched an invasion in February. France gets around 17 percent of its gas from Russia through network connections with Germany, which relies heavily on Russian supplies and has criticised Gazprom's move as "political".

(ANSA-AFP).