Despite Moscow’s bloody war of aggression, Russian oil and gas are still flowing through a transit pipeline on Ukrainian territory. But this is soon to come to an end.
Ukraine wants to end the transit of Russian oil and gas to the EU at the turn of the year. This was confirmed by the advisor to the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podoliak, in an interview with the broadcaster Nowyny.Live. Ukraine has signed contracts as a transit country that are valid until January 1, 2025 and that the country cannot terminate unilaterally. “But without a doubt, this will all stop on January 1, 2025,” said Podoliak. However, Kyiv is ready to transit gas from the countries of Central Asia or Azerbaijan to Europe. The decisive factor for Ukraine is to deprive Russia of its sources of income from the sale of raw materials.
The contract for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine to Europe between the state-owned companies Gazprom and Naftogaz ends on December 31, 2024. Despite the war of aggression started by Moscow more than two years ago, it has so far been fulfilled – also at the urging of Ukraine’s European neighbors, especially Hungary. However, the leadership in Kyiv has made it clear several times that this contract will not be extended – most recently President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized this again.
Most recently, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia received Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. The northern branch of the pipeline leading to Germany was largely shut down due to Western sanctions against Russian oil. According to Russian media reports, the Kazakhstani subsidiary of the energy company Eni began pumping oil from the Caspian Sea through the pipeline in August. This compromise allows Russia to generate transit revenues, but does not allow it to sell its own oil to Europe, the country’s most lucrative market.
Source: Stern
