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Ukraine unlikely to extend agreement on transit of gas from Russia to Europe — Politico

"I believe, by the winter of 2024 Europe will not need Russian gas at all," German Galushchenko added

MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. Ukraine is unlikely to extend the agreement on the transit of Russian gas to the EU countries, which expires at the end of 2024. Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said this in an interview with Politico.

According to the minister, due to the ongoing conflict "bilateral negotiations (with Russia on gas transit to Europe - TASS) are impossible."

"I believe, by the winter of 2024 Europe will not need Russian gas at all," Galushchenko said.

Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller, said last week that Russia could impose sanctions on Naftogaz if it continues to act in bad faith. According to him, the Ukrainian company continues to try to organize bad faith litigation regarding the transit of Russian gas to Europe. The possibility of imposing sanctions against Naftogaz in the event of further dishonest actions was also confirmed by the press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov.

As Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told TASS in early June, if the gas transit agreement with Russia is not extended after 2024, Ukraine will cause great damage to the EU and harm itself.

In December 2019, Gazprom and Naftogaz agreed to extend the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory for the period from 2020 to 2024 with the possibility of extending the agreement for another 10 years. The contract provides for the transit of 65 billion cubic meters of gas in 2020 and 40 bcm annually from 2021 to 2024. The transit arrangement implies a "pump or pay" principle, where transit fees are charged for the amount of booked capacity, even if actual pumping is less.