Russian natural gas exports via pipelines passing through Ukraine to Europe were halted in the early hours of the New Year as a transit agreement expired, according to Reuters.
Russia and Ukraine failed to reach the agreement to continue supplies as Kyiv officially refused to extend transit. Energy Minister German Galushchenko stated:
We stopped the transit of Russian gas. This is a historic event. Russia is losing its markets; it will suffer financial losses. Europe has already made the decision to abandon Russian gas.
However, Russia will continue to export gas through the TurkStream pipeline under the Black Sea. One line leads to Turkey, and the other is intended to supply Central Europe, including Hungary and Serbia.
The European Union doubled its efforts to reduce its dependence on Russian energy after the war in Ukraine broke out in 2022. Remaining buyers of Russian gas through Ukraine, such as Slovakia and Austria, also organised alternative supplies.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico recently travelled to Moscow to discuss gas supplies with Russian President Vladimir Putin against the backdrop of Ukraine’s decisions.
Moldova is among the most affected countries. Chișinău says it now needs to introduce measures to cut its gas consumption by a third, as the five-year gas transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine expires ahead of schedule on Wednesday, 1 January.
Ukraine’s energy ministry stated that the transport of Russian gas through Ukraine “has been stopped in the interests of national security.” Russian gas giant Gazprom also said that it “was deprived of the technical and legal ability to supply gas for transit through the territory of Ukraine from January 1, 2025.”
Kyiv now faces a loss of about $800 million a year in transit fees from Russia, whereas Gazprom loses about $5 billion in gas sales. The Yamal-Europe pipeline through Belarus was also closed, and the Nord Stream route through the Baltic Sea to Germany was blown up in 2022.
