- The European Union will react if Russia keeps cutting energy exports to the bloc, a top official said.
- Russia halted natural gas flows to the EU through its Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Friday.
The European Union is prepared to strike back if Russia continues to slash energy exports to the trading bloc, according to a top official.
Paolo Gentiloni, the EU's economics commissioner, said that the union is 'ready to react' after Russia halted natural gas flows via its Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
"If the weaponization of energy will continue or will increase in response to our decisions, I think that the European Union is ready to react," he told CNBC at the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy on Saturday.
Russia's state-run energy giant Gazprom said Friday that Nord Stream 1 will shut indefinitely after leaks were detected. It had previously shut the pipeline, which carries gas from Russia to Germany, for three days' maintenance from August 31.
EU officials have accused Russia of slashing its energy exports to try to stoke an economic crisis on the continent, as Moscow looks to hit back against western sanctions.
The EU has taken some steps to wean itself off of Russian gas, with the bloc hitting its winter storage goal two months early after filling 80% of its reserves by the end of August.
Gentiloni told CNBC that bolstered gas storage rules will enable the EU to react if Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, continues trying to choke off its energy supplies.
"We have to save energy, we have to share energy, we have a high level of storage and we are not afraid of Putin's decisions," he said.
The EU could also be working on setting a price cap on Russian gas — after the G7 countries agreed to work to limit the price of Russian oil last week.
"I firmly believe that it is now time for a price cap on Russian pipeline gas to Europe," the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said Friday.