- The Government of Volodymyr Zelensky has not renewed its contract with Gazprom and, on Wednesday morning, the Russian company has suspended the flow of gas to supply eastern Europe.
The Volodymyr Zelensky government has taken a very significant decision: it has not renewed its contract with Gazprom for five years for the transit of Russian gas from that country to the European Union. Thus, Ukraine will no longer receive EUR 800 million, while Gazprom has calculated that it will lose some EUR 5 billion.
But the consequences of this decision will be felt throughout Europe, particularly in eastern Europe. Some countries are still heavily dependent on Russian gas, such as Moldova, Hungary or Slovakia.
It is precisely those who have the closest links with Russia and have already announced that they will have to take decisions to reduce gas consumption, such as that of Moldova. For its part, Slovakia has threatened Ukraine with cutting electricity supply through a retaliation mechanism.
When Russia invaded Ukraine almost three years ago, the countries of the European Union took steps to reduce their dependence on Russian gas, which is not the same. Consequently, most of the gas currently consumed in Europe comes from Norway, as well as from the United States and the Middle East, via liquefied gas LNG.
The Bratstvo gas pipeline, passing from Russia to the EU, was still open, and that is what has now decided on the suspension of Ukraine. Thus, Zelensky puts the symbolic brooch on the Russian gas age of many decades. In 2021, 45% of the gas imported into Europe was from Russia, in 2023 only 10%
Russia temporarily cut off the main transport pipelines for Europe, including those known as Nord Stream and Yamal. In addition, shortly thereafter, the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines were sabotaged, and everything points to the shadow of the United States being behind the explosions.
But the Bratstvo gas pipeline, passing from Russia to the EU, was still open, and that is what Ukraine has now decided to stop the strike. Thus, Zelensky puts the symbolic brooch on the Russian gas age of many decades. 45% of the gas imported into Europe in 2021 was from Russia, compared to 10% in 2023.
It is a foreseeable decision, as the President of Ukraine himself said that he would not allow Russia to win billions of euros with "our blood". Experts warn, however, that supply cuts will affect the energy costs of the countries of the European Union, especially Germany.