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Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine will cease on Wednesday, when a five-year agreement between Ukrainian gas transit operator Naftogaz and Russia’s Gazprom expires.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country will not allow Russia to “earn additional billions on our blood” and gave the EU a year to prepare.
The EU has significantly cut gas imports from Russia after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but a number of eastern member states are still heavily dependent on supplies that cost Russia around €5 billion ($5.2 billion; 4.2 a billion pounds). year
The European Commission has said that the continent’s gas system is “resilient and flexible” and has sufficient capacity to cope with the cessation of transit through Ukraine.
In 2023, Russian gas accounted for less than 10% of gas imports to the EU. according to the blockcompared to 40% in 2021.
But several EU members, including Slovakia and Austria, continue to import significant volumes of gas from Russia.
Austria’s energy regulator said it does not foresee supply disruptions as it has diversified sources and accumulated reserves.
But Ukraine’s decision has already caused serious tension with Slovakia, which is now the main entry point for Russian gas to the EU and earns transit fees from gas deliveries to Austria, Hungary and Italy.
On Friday, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico – who just did unexpected visit to Moscow for negotiations with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin – threatened to stop the supply of electricity to Ukraine.
This prompted Zelensky to accuse him of helping Putin “finance the war and weaken Ukraine.”
“Fico involves Slovakia in Russia’s attempts to cause more suffering to Ukrainians,” the Ukrainian president said.
Poland has offered to support Kiev if Slovakia stops exporting electricity – a supply that is crucial for Ukraine, whose power plants are regularly attacked by Russia.
Moldova, which is not part of the EU, could be seriously affected by the end of the transit agreement. The gas fed the power plant from which Moldova supplies most of its electricity needs. It also supplied the Russian-backed separatist region of Transnistria, a small sliver of land sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine.
The Minister of Energy of Moldova Constantin Barasan said that the government has taken measures to ensure a stable electricity supply in the country, but urged citizens to save energy. Since mid-December, a state of emergency in the energy sector has been in effect for 60 days in Moldova.
President Maia Sandu has accused the Kremlin of “blackmail” that may be aimed at destabilizing her country ahead of a 2025 general election. The Moldovan government also said it had offered aid to Transnistria.
Russia has been transporting gas to Europe through Ukraine since 1991.
As the EU has reduced its dependence on Russian gas, it has found alternative sources in liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar and the US, as well as gas from Norway.
After the Ukrainian transit route is cut off, the Black Sea “Turkish Stream” – which reaches Turkey, Hungary and Serbia – will become the only supply of Russian gas to European countries.
In December, the European Commission laid out plans It says that this will allow EU member states to completely replace gas transit through Ukraine.
Under the EU’s emergency plans, the affected countries will be supplied with Greek, Turkish and Romanian gas via the Trans-Balkan route, and Norwegian gas via Poland. More supplies will also reach Central Europe via Germany.
