Ukraine stopped this Wednesday, January 1, the transportation of natural gas Russian through its territory as it had warned in recent days. The agreement signed between Moscow and kyiv provided for the physical interconnection between the Natural Gas Transmission System of Ukraine (GTSOU) and Gazprom and, after its completion, the concern in different countries in Europe facing winter.
“Transportation of natural gas from the Sudzha entry point on the eastern border of Ukraine to the exit points on the western and southern borders was terminated. The Ukrainian GTS Operator informed its international partners in accordance with the established procedure“, details the statement from the Ukrainian operator.
Ukraine cut off one of the Russian gas supply points
The flow stopped definitively this January 1st. Finally, the 5 year agreement between both nations – which continued despite the war – came to an end and Ukraine confirmed the measure: “We stopped the transit of Russian gas. It is a historic event. Russia thus loses market shares and will suffer financial losses,” congratulated the Ukrainian Energy Minister, Guerman Galuchtchenko, cited for his services in a statement.
President Volodimir Zelensky welcomed the move and reported: “When Vladimir Putin took power in Russia more than 25 years ago, The annual volume of gas sent to Europe through Ukraine amounted to more than 130 billion m3. Today, Russian transit is zero, which constitutes one of the biggest defeats for Moscow.”
From the Russian side, the state-owned company Gazprom issued a statement in which it detailed: “Due to the repeated refusal of the Ukrainian side to extend the agreement, Gazprom has been deprived of the technical and legal possibility to deliver gas through Ukraine starting January 1.”
This way, Europe will only be supplied with Russian gas by the TurkStream – which runs through Türkiye – and its extension, Balkan Stream.
The Ukrainian gas pipeline system allows the Russian consortium Gazprom to export gas to Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldovaa transit contract that allowed kyiv to enter some US$700 million annually. These nations will be the main affected by the cutting of the agreement at a sensitive time with the arrival of winter.
Given this, the Minister of Economy of Slovakia declared that her country is prepared for the interruption, while the Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Ficothreatened Ukraine with reciprocal measures if it moved forward with the decision that finally occurred. For its part, Moldova decreed, On December 13, the energy emergency lasted for 60 days.
Russia and Ukraine exchanged 300 prisoner soldiers on New Year’s Eve
With the mediation of the United Arab Emirates, Russia announced last Monday a new exchange of 300 prisoner soldiers with Ukraine after a “negotiation process” on New Year’s Eve. From the Russian Ministry of Defense they detailed: ”On December 30, as a result of a negotiation process, 150 Russian soldiers They were repatriated from the territory controlled by the kyiv regime. In exchange, they gave themselves 150 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian army.”
Russia and Ukraine Hundreds of prisons have been exchanged since Russian offensive began in February 2022 and they regularly exchange the remains of soldiers who have fallen in combat. The exchange took place almost 3 years after the war began and amid speculation about peace talks.
In this context, Vladimir Putin He stated that he would accept Slovakia, an allied country, as a venue for future peace negotiations. He did so after meeting with the prime minister of that country, Robert Fico.
“As for the venue, he said that if it comes to negotiations, they would be happy to provide a platform for his country to conduct such negotiations. We are not opposed to this because from our point of view Slovakia takes a neutral position that is acceptable to us.“Putin stated.
Source: Ambito
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