Is Ukraine stealing Russian gas? And the EU is watching? by Ulrike Reisner – Le Courrier des Stratèges

Habsburg Empire Newspaper: Austrian gas supplier OMV is demanding 230 million euros in damages from the Gazprom group – and hopes to be able to terminate contracts early in the event of a halt in deliveries. Gazprom continues to confirm gas deliveries for Europe of 42.4 million cubic meters per day to the Sudzha gas pumping station in Russia's Kursk region. This is apparently still controlled by the Ukrainian armed forces. Ukraine is threatening to no longer transport Russian gas to its territory from the beginning of 2025. But what will happen to this gas? New project ideas from Ukrainians in collaboration with Poland and the EU are making ears prick up.

Despite all the sanctions and political threats, Russian gas continues to flow into Europe. So far, there is no general halt to imports, and breaking long-term contracts would result in heavy penalties. This is for example the case of Austria, which still purchased 98% of its gas imports from Russia in December 2023, 90% in May 2024 and 83% in June. Around 5% of EU natural gas consumption passes through pipelines through Ukraine, to Austria, to Slovakia, to Hungary. Hungary recently negotiated additional deliveries with Gazprom for next year – much to the dismay of sanctions supporters. But Orbán knows that he has in his hands a veto card against a generalized embargo.