Putin also confirmed Russia would fully comply with its contractual obligations for the transit of gas through Ukraine to Europe.Īsked by EURACTIV to comment, Sergiy Makogon, CEO of Gas TSO of Ukraine (GTSOU), rejected the allegation that Ukraine’s pipelines were decrepit and stressed that independent research, commissioned by GTSOU, confirmed that Ukraine’s investment programme was sufficient to guarantee reliable transit for the next 10 years. Putin hinted it was possible to think of a possible increase in supply on the EU market but “you need to do it carefully.”ĭuring the meeting, the Russian president supported the calls to increase gas supply on the market amid rising energy prices in Europe but stressed this should be done not through the EU spot market but through the St. “This cannot be done using the gas transport system of Ukraine, which has not been repaired for decades and something there can burst there at any moment, with unfavourable consequences for everyone: both for the transit side and for the consumer,” Putin said. Putin explained that modern pumping equipment and new pipes allow increasing the pressure, which was not possible with the Ukrainian pipes. Both pipelines circumvent Ukraine, a goal Russia has been pursuing since the 2009 gas crisis. Nord Stream 2, the other pipeline supplying Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, has been completed but is not yet certified by the German and the EU authorities. There is currently only one new pipeline system in operation – TurkStream, which supplies Russian gas under the Black Sea to Turkey and further to the EU via Bulgaria. As I said, Gazprom is saving about $3 billion a year by using the new pipeline system,” Putin said at a meeting on energy development, as quoted by the Russian RT website. Only for Gazprom, this would be at a loss.
“It would be possible to increase, indeed, supplies via the Ukrainian gas transport system. However, he said Russia would fully comply with its present contractual obligations for the transit of gas through Ukraine to Europe.Ĭommenting on the possibility of increasing gas supplies through Ukraine, Putin recalled that Ukraine’s gas transport system had not been repaired “for decades” and that “something could burst” there at any moment.
In the context of skyrocketing gas prices and calls for Russia to supply more gas to the EU, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to exclude Ukraine as a transit country for such additional supplies.