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Minister: Russian gas transit through Ukraine could end by 2024

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Minister: Russian gas transit through Ukraine could end by 2024
Gas transport pipes and processing infrastructure stands at a refinery operated by DK Ukrgazvydobuvannia, a unit of Naftogaz, in Poltava on July 21, 2017. (Photo: Vincent Mundy/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Renewal of the gas transit contract between Ukraine and Russia next year is unlikely, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko told the Financial Times on June 22.

Kyiv signed a five-year deal with Russia's state-owned gas supplier Gazprom in 2019. According to Halushchenko, it is difficult to imagine the renegotiation of the contract after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

As the Financial Times noted, the pipeline is one of the few remaining gas transit routes for Russian gas westward, accounting for 5% of Europe's total gas imports.

The suspension of the Ukrainian transit will leave TurkStream as the only route through which Russia delivers gas to Europe.

Since last year, Moscow started limiting its gas exports to the EU to drive up the prices to undermine support for Ukraine.

European countries began working to diversify their suppliers, for example, buying liquified natural gas (LNG) from the U.S. or Qatar.

While in 2021 Russia accounted for almost half of the EU's gas imports, by the end of 2022 the number dropped to 13%.

In May, the G7 and the EU announced they will ban Russian gas imports on routes where Moscow has cut supplies before.

Europe still hooked on Russian gas despite deep cut
Russia’s war in Ukraine was a watershed moment for Europe. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has killed tens of thousands and forced millions out of the country, Russia sought to punish the European Union for supporting Kyiv. Russia began to choke Europe, violating pre-exist…
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Martin Fornusek

Senior News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

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