President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the country's intention to abandon the transit of Russian natural gas through its territory after the expiration of the current contract. This statement was made in the context of strategic decisions regarding Ukraine's energy policy and its dependence on gas supplies from the Russian Federation.
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Ukraine will refuse the transit of Russian gas after the expiration of the current contract. However, Kyiv strives to maintain its role as a transit hub. Therefore, the state is conducting negotiations on sending natural gas from Azerbaijan to the EU.
A possible agreement to replace Russian gas with Azerbaijani gas is "one of the proposals" being discussed. Ukrainian government officials are now engaged in this. The head of state said this in an interview with Bloomberg.
"Alternative steps are now being considered, how we can use the pipe with another gas supplier, another country. Negotiations are ongoing. We do not want to extend the gas contract with the Russian Federation. We don't want them to earn money here," Zelenskyi said.
The president added that Ukraine seeks to supply gas to "European countries that are attractive to us." It will also indicate the support of these states against the background of the beginning of the process of Ukraine's accession to the EU. According to the publication, Russia currently supplies about 15 billion cubic meters of gas to the region per year through Ukraine, mainly to Slovakia and Austria.
Azerbaijan, in turn, said that it wants to increase its gas exports to Europe. However, the country has not yet secured enough long-term deals to invest in further mining. The publication reminded that the current agreement between Naftogaz-Ukraine and Russian Gazprom was signed in 2019. Last month, European officials held talks on maintaining gas through Ukraine.
The agreement expires at the end of 2024. The use of Ukraine's extensive pipelines would help provide important funding to an economy where transit revenues were estimated to be about $1 billion in 2021, the report said.
Transit of Russian gas through Ukraine
On January 25, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that Ukraine is ready to allow Russian gas through its territory even after the current transit agreement expires in 2024. Allegedly, certain agreements were made during the meeting with the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal.
After that, Shmyhal's press service published the prime minister's response to Robert Fizo's words. The head of the Ukrainian government assured that the transit of Russian gas will not be extended.
