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Kremlin unaware of gas reverse from Germany to Ukraine

However, such purchases do indeed take place, Dmitry Peskov noted

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. Press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov is unaware of the physical reverse of Russian gas from Germany to Ukraine but confirms that such procurements have taken place.

Gazprom is not booking capacity on the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline because there are no requests from European consumers, Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier. Furthermore, Europeans turned on the reverse mode making it possible for them to resell gas purchased from Russia under long-term contracts to Poland and then to Ukraine, the Russian leader said.

"I cannot tell you whether these were physical supplies. However, such purchases do indeed take place," the Kremlin’s spokesperson said, responding to the question whether the Russian President meant physical deliveries of gas to Ukraine.

"The principle is such that gas supplied via the pipeline under contract is cheap. Spot gas in another place - non-contracted - is extremely expensive. What is better to sell? It is betterg to sell costly gas. Does it meet the buyer’s interest? No," Peskov said. However, the buyer has no choice and has to buy gas at high prices, he added. The Russian President has talked exactly about this situation in Europe, the spokesman noted.

Earlier, Gazprom also pointed to the available data on the physical reverse of gas from Germany to Poland and further to Ukraine.