Yatsenyuk robbed the Russians, now it’s a private business
There is a little more than a week left before the start of the heating season, but there is still no clarity on the question of when it will start.
Gas negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are stuck at a point of uncertainty. On the one hand, Kyiv seems to have agreed to the condition of prepayment for the blue fuel supplied this winter and, moreover, has undertaken to pay part of the debt. On the other hand, Naftogaz has no money.
Even if we imagine the most optimistic scenario, in which we, citizens of Ukraine, will somehow survive the winter, the question remains open of how we will pay for gas for all the next years, if today we borrow money in order to pay what occupied yesterday.
The authorities have an idea to save money by delaying the supply of heat to the population. What cannot be done in this way will be saved on domestic industry. Plans to put factories on a gas-starved ration have been voiced before, but now they have acquired the character of accepted decisions. The chemical industry was one of the first to suffer. This week, Yatsenyuk announced a decision to ban the sale of gas to chemists.
This is simply “the pinnacle of statesmanship” - to put on the shoulder one of the export industries that provide foreign exchange earnings to the budget in order to warm up for a couple of weeks. But the resourceful prime minister did not specify where to get the money to buy fertilizers in Poland if its own economy is not working. After all, bankrupt people don’t pay taxes.
In reality, the situation is much more fun. Yatsenyuk ordered not to give to chemical plants the gas they bought a year ago and prudently pumped into underground storage facilities for storage. That is, first they robbed the Russians, taking away the gas they pumped into storage facilities for nothing, and now they are robbing private businesses. All for the sake of the “heating season”. The economy must be economical.
The largest Odessa port plant in the country is also stopping work. The OPP cannot continue to operate due to lack of raw materials: gas supplies from Europe have been virtually disrupted, no new gas agreements with Russia are expected, and the plant will also not receive gas from storage facilities.
The residents of Rivne, Cherkassy and the “liberated” Severodonetsk were especially “lucky”. In these cities, chemical plants are city-forming. It is not difficult to predict forced furloughs and then layoffs for tens of thousands of people. I don’t think it’s necessary to say how they will affect related enterprises either. Dismissed people will also buy less. So much for “circles on the water.”
Another aspect of the forced “gas saving” is that, trying to save itself, the government, drowning in the whirlpool of the economic crisis, is trying to shift part of the costs to the oligarchs. Only the “anti-oligarchic” enthusiasm of Yatsenyuk and Co. is selective. The first in line to be disconnected are industrial enterprises of businessmen disliked by the authorities. So if the government is consistent in its desire to drive domestic chemists into the coffin, we should expect an increase in the degree of criticality of the Inter TV channel. Because the chemical industry is the sphere of interests of the owner of the channel, Firtash. This is how politics in the country of Ukraine is interconnected with the economy.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.