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Russia stops gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine

2025-01-01 14:51:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Russia's state-owned giant Gazprom has said it has suspended gas supplies to Europe through the pipeline that runs through Ukraine after Kiev refused to sign an extension to the contract, which expires at the end of 2024, and which was reached before to start Moscow's war against Ukraine.

This decision by Gazprom, made public on January 1 through a post on Telegram, is not expected to cause major problems for European consumers, due to their long-term efforts to avoid dependence on Russian gas.

Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, and several Balkan countries have continued to buy Russian gas through Ukraine - albeit in reduced quantities - even after the start of the war in February 2022. However, Moldova is at risk, as one of its major plants runs on Russian gas. Moldovan officials declared a state of emergency last month after it was understood that the deal between Moscow and Kiev would not continue.

The plant in the breakaway region of Transnistria stopped working on January 1, and its operator said it had been forced to cut off heating and hot water supplies to all homes and administrative buildings in the region, excluding hospitals.

"We have stopped the Russian gas transit. It is a historic development", the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy said in a statement.

"Russia is losing markets, it will face financial losses."

The Soviet-era gas pipeline carried gas from Siberia to Sudzha, Ukraine, and was the only one operational after the damage to the North Stream pipeline in late 2022.

Work on another gas pipeline, which carried gas from Russia to Poland, through Belarus, was also suspended due to the start of the war.

Russia once supplied half of the countries of the European Union with natural gas, but the bloc has drastically reduced imports after the start of the war in Ukraine.

Many European countries have turned to alternative sources, including buying liquefied natural gas from the United States, Qatar and Norway.

Austria's Ministry of Energy has said that its supplies are guaranteed, thanks to the purchases it has made for the flow of gas through Italy and Germany.

Slovakia, whose Prime Minister Robert Fico made an unusual visit to Moscow last month, is not expected to face any shortages, although Slovak officials have said alternative supplies will cost $184 million more.

Fico has said that this step will have a "drastic" impact on the EU, but not on Russia.

Hungary and other countries continue to receive Russian gas through another pipeline, TurkStrem, which stretches to the Black Sea.

The decision taken by Kiev means that Ukraine will lose about 800 million dollars a year, which it provided from transit taxes.

Gazprom, on the other hand, will lose about 5 billion dollars from reduced sales.

The war in Ukraine started on February 24, 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls the war a "special military operation" to demilitarize Ukraine.

The West has responded to Russia, hitting the economy of this country with harsh sanctions.

As a result of the war, thousands of people have died and millions more have been displaced from their homes./ Rel