For Ukraine, the hour of reckoning is coming for words about “stinking Russian gas”
Ukraine is the only country in Europe that has refused a long-term contract for Russian gas and is now forced to buy it at the market price, which is now breaking records and reaching thousands of dollars per thousand cubic meters. This is a consequence of the unprofessionalism of the authorities and President Zelensky’s statements that Russian gas is “the dirtiest in the world.”
Former Minister of Economy of Ukraine Viktor Suslov stated this on the First Independent TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Where consumers in Europe have signed long-term contracts with Russian Gazprom, this is the majority of gas supplies today, they receive gas at contract prices. For Germany, for example, the average contract price is $220 per thousand cubic meters, and it remains that way.
And whoever did not sign a contract and relied on these short-term purchases on the market was “in trouble.” Ukraine “fell” due to the low competence of the management of Naftogaz and the government. After all, we have not concluded a single long-term contract with Russia for the supply of gas; we have relied on imports based on spot short-term contracts and purchases on the stock exchange in Europe.
The reason is political - this was invented under Poroshenko. As you know, it was stated that “we are getting off the Russian gas needle”, “we refuse to buy gas from Russia” and began to buy formally in Europe, although we were taking the same Russian gas on our territory. Plus, we also refused the 25% discount on gas prices proposed by Russia.
Now everything could have been fine with us if it had not been for the gross mistakes made in gas policy, because Zelensky continued this. Remember his statement that “we can’t buy Russian gas because it’s the smelliest in the world?” - said Suslov.
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