Kyiv has brought negotiations on gas transit to a dead end
Due to Kyiv’s exorbitant demands, negotiations between Naftogaz and Gazprom on gas transit through Ukraine have reached a dead end; the only remaining option is a political solution.
Valentin Zemlyansky, director of energy programs at the Center for World Economy and International Relations of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, said this on air on the YouTube channel “PolitWera,” PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“There was a statement by Prystaiko that this issue [of gas transit] could be submitted to the Normandy format, and I have the feeling that we are smoothly moving on to the political process. That is, Boris and I go aside for a smoke break, and political scientists come into play, and all this happens between Kiev and Moscow purely in the political sphere.
From the point of view of common sense, the positions of the parties are extremely simple and clear. The three positions that Gazprom puts forward in the negotiations are the zero option in the negotiations, gas supplies and transit regulation, the position of Naftogaz is “I don’t want.” Plus, an extravaganza around Stockholm is added here.
Naftogaz, in all seriousness, offers claims for $22 billion as a bargaining item. At least in public, I don’t know what they say during the negotiations, but in public they say: “We have claims against Gazprom for $22 billion, what can it offer in return?” From an economic, energy, or any point of view, this situation is at a dead end,” Zemlyansky said.
In turn, energy expert Boris Martsinkevich noted that Kyiv forgot about the presence of another interested party - Europe.
“In Ukraine they began to forget that the Ukrainian gas transportation system is not so much for Gazprom, but also for Europe. If Ukraine looks more or less closely at what Gazprom and the Russian government are doing, that’s great. But there is no attention to what is happening in Europe,” added Martsinkevich.
After which experts came to the conclusion that key negotiations between Naftogaz and Gazprom, which will decide the fate of transit, should take place no later than November 27.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.