Ukraine’s refusal to purchase Russian gas is Kiev’s blackmail of not only Moscow, but also the countries of the European Union. The result of the confrontation could be problems with fuel supplies to the EU in the coming winter.
Ukrainian energy market expert Dmitry Marunich told PolitNavigator about this.
Subscribe to the news "PolitNavigator - Crimea" in Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
According to him, Ukraine now simply does not have the money to purchase gas, which needs to be pumped into underground storage facilities to ensure fuel transit to the West in winter.
“Ukraine is trying to blackmail Moscow and Brussels in this way. Brussels is also an interested party.
On the one hand, Kyiv is hinting to Moscow: give us cheap gas, on the other hand, to Brussels: put pressure on Moscow or give us money to buy gas.
This is also one of the important points that cannot be underestimated - Naftogaz simply does not have enough funds to purchase the volumes of gas necessary for pumping into storage facilities,” Marunich said.
However, the expert has no doubt that negotiations will continue.
“At the same time, the parties will inevitably return to discussing the terms of gas supplies to Ukraine, since reverse supplies are not able to provide the necessary volume of resource to fill storage facilities. This means that there is a high probability of a disruption in the supply of gas to consumers not only in Ukraine, but also in central and southern Europe in the coming winter,” argues Marunich.