EXPLAINER: Can Europe live without Russian natural gas?

BERLIN (AP) — Europe is in an energy crisis, and it means countries will struggle to keep homes warm and industry humming this winter. That’s because Russia has slashed Europe’s flows of natural gas used to power factories, generate electricity and heat homes in the winter. Moscow says deliveries through a major pipeline to Germany, Nord Stream 1, will drop 20% of capacity this week, blaming technical reasons. European leaders are now bracing for the possibility of a complete cutoff, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin is using energy for political leverage in his confrontation with the West over the war in Ukraine. The European Union has agreed to ration gas.