Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper): The EU is preparing to halt Russian gas via Ukraine, and Slovakia threatens to cut electricity supplies to Ukraine.
A representative of the European Commission has stated the European Union is ready to halt the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine, reported DW. According to her, European Union infrastructure is adaptable enough to let gas from third nations to flow via alternative ways to Central and Eastern Europe. “The consequence of the suspension of transit through Ukraine on ensuring the security of European Union supplies is limited,” she confirmed.
The European Commission stated it had coordinated with European Union member nations for over a year to organise alternative methods. Europe’s gas infrastructure has been supported by considerable liquefied natural gas (LNG) import capacity.
How does Fico’s Moscow visit affect regional energy ties?
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico conducted conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. According to him, the gathering was a reaction to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who on December 19 expressed “against any gas transit through Ukraine” to Slovakia. The agreement for the supply of Russian gas to Europe via the territory of Ukraine concludes on January 1, 2025.
Fico also stated that Slovakia would assume measures against Ukraine, such as stopping backup electricity supplies after January 1, if it ceases transiting Russian gas. Slovakia is presently the second-largest country in terms of both emergency and commercial electricity dispatch to Ukraine.
In reply, Zelensky stated that Putin had instructed Fico to extend a second energy front against Ukraine at the cost of the stakes of the Slovak people. He stated that Slovakia’s share in electricity imports to Ukraine is almost 19 per cent, and
“Fico’s short-sighted approach has already left the people of Slovakia without payment for the failure of Russian gas transit and may leave them without at least $200 million each year that Ukraine pays for imported electricity.”
As of 2024’s end, the pattern of Russian gas imports into Europe had become drastically transformed. Ukraine’s invasion led to a sharp increase in political tensions and at the end of 2021; the EU imported about 155 billion cubic meters or bcm of Russian gas, approximately 45% of all of its gas imports. However, this number sharply declined in the following years; by 2022, it had dropped down to around 80 bcm, and further down by 2023, to about 43 bcm.
