The transit agreement that transports Russian gas to the EU via Ukraine will not be extended beyond the end of December 2024. This is what Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal said.
Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly warned that they have no intention of extending the transit agreement, which expires on December 31. However, several EU countries continue to rely on Russian gas, meaning termination of the deal poses a risk to consumers.
Shmigal wrote on Telegram on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, that he had a phone call with his Slovak counterpart, Robert Fico, during which he said that Ukraine was ready to discuss the transit of gas from any origin, except Russian.
“I emphasized that the agreement between Ukraine and Russia on gas transit expires on January 1, 2025 and will not be extended,” Mr. Shmigal wrote. He added that if the European Commission officially addresses kyiv about the transit of “any gas other than Russian gas, we would naturally discuss and are ready to reach an appropriate agreement.”
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Slovakia is one of the countries that receives Russian gas transiting through Ukraine. The Slovak government stressed that it was engaged in negotiations “very intense” on deliveries for next year. The Ukrainian transit network is also connected to the gas pipeline networks of Moldova, Romania, Poland and Hungary.
The five-year transit deal between Russian energy giant Gazprom and Ukrainian state-owned energy company Naftogaz was signed in 2019. The deal called for Gazprom to transit 65 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas through the Ukraine in 2020 and 40 bcm per year between 2021 and 2024.
However, Gazprom, once the EU’s main gas supplier, has significantly reduced its exports to the EU in 2022, after the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines. According to the latest data, the EU still receives around 5% of its gas from Russia via Ukraine.
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Fico said on Sunday that Slovakia would not give in to Western pressure to replace Russian natural gas with a more expensive alternative, noting that there is no “no reason to pay more for gas than necessary for geopolitical reasons”.
On Tuesday (December 17), Slovak state-owned energy company SPP and energy operators from Austria, Hungary and Italy signed a statement to support the continued transit of Russian gas, describing it as “the best solution not only for gas consumers in Europe, but also for Ukraine itself”.
The statement will be submitted to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to inform her of the “threat to energy and economic security in our region”, said SPP Director General Vojtech Ferencz.
