Ukraine’s energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, said in a statement that Russian gas pipelines were no longer allowed to reach Europe via Ukraine “in the national interest.”
“This move is historic and Russia will lose its market and suffer financial losses,” Halusenko said.
Russia’s state-owned energy company Gazprom also said, “As of 8 a.m. on the 1st, Russian gas will be cut off through Ukraine.”
Ukraine terminated and did not renew a five-year use contract for Ukraine’s Urengoi gas pipeline signed with Gazprom the day before.
Ukraine maintained this contract even after the war with Russia in February 2022, sending about 15 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas annually to European countries through gas pipelines that pass through it. In 2020, the contract was about 65 billion cubic meters per year.
Under the contract between the two countries, Russia exported gas to Europe, and Ukraine collected diesel fees. At the end of the contract, Ukraine is expected to lose about $800 million in annual transportation fees, and Russia’s Gazprom is expected to lose about $5 billion due to reduced gas sales.
Ukraine’s gas supply to the European Union (EU) member states including the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia and Moldova will be directly affected by the latest move. Pro-Russian members Hungary and Slovakia strongly protested.
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Pizzo warned on Facebook that “the suspension of gas transit through Ukraine will have a dramatic impact on all of us in the EU, not the Russian Federation.”
Slovakia’s state-run gas company SPP said in a statement that it had prepared to supply gas to all customers through alternative routes, such as gas pipelines through Germany and Hungary, but would incur additional transportation costs.
Authorities in Transnistria, a pro-Russian separatist region in Moldova, stopped supplying gas for heating and hot water to ordinary households, Reuters reported.
Authorities advised residents to dress warmly and have their families stay in one room, hang blankets or thick curtains on windows and balcony doors and use electric heaters.
Moldova has been supplied with 2 billion㎥ of natural gas annually through gas pipes leading to Russia-Ukraine-Transnistria. Transnistria is a place where Russian residents in Moldova are concentrated, and is in conflict with the central government of Moldova over its demands for separation and independence.
Moldova’s Prime Minister Doreen Letchian called Gazprom’s gas cutoff an attempt to cause social instability.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to hold the people of Transnistria hostage without supplying gas and electricity,” he said. “It is an attempt to destabilize the situation in Moldova.”
On the other hand, the European Commission predicted that the impact of the gas supply suspension would not be significant.
“This suspension is expected and we have been preparing for it,” an EU Commission spokesman said. “Europe’s gas infrastructure is flexible enough to supply gas produced elsewhere than Russia to central and eastern Europe through alternative routes.”
“We have been fully prepared for this scenario,” Austrian Energy Minister Leonor Ghevesler said. “Austria is no longer dependent on Russian gas.”
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoswaf Sikorsky welcomed the suspension of Russian gas transport through Ukraine, saying it was recorded as “another victory” after Finland and Sweden joined NATO.
Reuters evaluated that the era of Russian gas in Europe is over due to the suspension of gas supply, saying that gas from Norway, the United States and Qatar will replace it.
The share of Russian gas in Europe once rose to 35%, but plummeted due to the war in Ukraine.
A gas pipeline via Belarus-Poland, a gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine, was shut down a month after the war broke out and Nord Stream through the Baltic Sea was also closed in 2022 due to a mysterious explosion.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
