The Ministry stated that this decision was taken in the interests of national security, and international partners were informed about it in time.
On December 31, the five-year contract signed by the Ukrainian company “Naftogaz” and the Russian company “Gazprom” for the transit of Russian gas through Europe expired, and the contract was not extended.
“We have stopped the transit of Russian gas, this is a historic event. Russia is losing the market, it will suffer financial losses. Europe has already decided to give up Russian gas. And the Repower EU initiative envisages exactly what Ukraine has done today,” emphasized Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has announced that Ukraine is ready to provide transit to European countries only for gas that is not of Russian origin.
Zelensky previously stated that Ukraine had given the European Union (EU) a year to prepare. The European Commission (EC) said that the European gas system is flexible and powerful enough to cope with the interruption of transit through Ukraine.
Russia can still send gas to Hungary as well as Turkey and Serbia via the TurkStream pipeline through the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s decision to suspend Russian gas transit will have the biggest impact on Slovakia, but the EC said the impact of the decision would be limited thanks to careful planning and alternative supplies.
However, the strategic and symbolic impact of this move on the whole of Europe is huge, the British broadcaster BBC said.
Since Russia’s repeated invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU has significantly reduced gas imports from Russia, but several countries in the bloc still rely on Russian gas.
According to EU data, in 2023, Russian gas accounted for less than 10% of the EU’s gas import volume. In 2021, this indicator was 40%. However, several EU member states, including Slovakia and Austria, continued to import significant volumes of gas from Russia.
E-Control, the Austrian electricity and natural gas market control service, announced that it does not foresee any disruptions as supply sources have been diversified and reserves have been created. Slovakia, on the other hand, has expressed dissatisfaction with this turn of events. Slovakia was until now the main entry point for Russian gas into the EU and earned transit fees for gas deliveries to Austria, Hungary and Italy.
Slovakia last month signed a short-term pilot agreement to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan, but earlier this year it struck a deal to import US LNG via a pipeline from Poland. The country can also receive gas through the networks of Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic, which, among other things, allows gas to be imported from Germany and other potential suppliers.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico threatened to stop the supply of electricity to Ukraine on Friday. Zelensky, in turn, accused Fico of helping Russian dictator Vladimir Putin finance the war and weaken Ukraine.
Poland has offered to support Kyiv if Slovakia stops exporting electricity. For Ukraine, these supplies are very important, as Russia regularly attacks Ukrainian power plants.
The non-renewal of the Ukraine-Russia gas transit agreement will also affect Moldova, which produces most of its electricity at a power plant powered by Russian gas. A state of emergency in the energy sector was declared in Moldova in mid-December for 60 days.
Moldovan Energy Minister Constantin Borosan said the government had taken steps to ensure a stable electricity supply, but called on residents to conserve energy.