Ukraine, too, benefits economically from Russian gas

Vincent Hervouet 11:13 a.m., March 31, 2022

EDITORIAL

Despite the war between Ukraine and Russia, business continues and even... between the two countries.

This is a figure delivered by the boss of Naftogaz, the national company, the equivalent of GDF in Ukraine.

Naftogaz provides heating for 12 million families.

Obviously, the war disrupts the service.

When a Russian missile crashes into a building, the gas has to be cut off for the whole block, urgently.

The company is working on this with teams rushing to the spot.

In total, after a month of conflict, 300,000 subscribers are deprived of gas.

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300,000 out of 12 million… The figure sticks badly with the images which pass on a loop and which show the ordeal of the inhabitants of Mariupol.

Ukraine is under bombardment, the destruction is considerable, including hundreds of kilometers of roads, transport infrastructure, millions of square meters of devastated apartments and offices.

But for 97.5% of subscribers, there is gas on all floors.

30% of the gas delivered to Europeans still passes through Ukraine

Are we sure about this assessment?

It's the company's, delivered to the

.

One question leading to another, you have to wonder where this gas comes from.

Ukraine is at the crossroads of several gas pipeline networks that bring energy from Russia's Siberia, Urals and Caucasus to Western Europe and the Balkans.

The main one is called Brotherhood (it must be that of Abel and Cain...) It is moreover to free themselves from this Ukrainian stopover, from this dependence that the Russians have built in recent years Nord Stream 2, which passes under the Baltic Sea and Turkish-Stream, which passes under the Black Sea.

The fact remains that 30% of the gas delivered to Europeans still passes through Ukraine.

40 billion cubic meters per year that end their journey in boilers or power stations in Germany, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Ukraine lends its basement and receives two kinds of rent in exchange.

One in kind, the gas she takes on the way.

And the other in cash, the royalties it collects.

For the period 2020-2025, the amount amounts to 7 billion euros.

One would have thought that since February 24, the gas pipeline had been stopped, the installations threatened.

Not at all !

The gunners spared them.

Traffic is business as usual.

That is, the Russians continue to deliver the gas, as they always have, even at the worst times of the Cold War.

And the Ukrainians continue to collect the rents, as if nothing had happened.

This is unheard of.

Europeans are so easy to blame

However, the Ukrainian leaders bitterly reproach Western Europe for buying this Russian gas and oil which pass through their territory!

The hospital doesn't care about charity.

Ukrainians blame but they keep the tap open.

They criticize the customers but they touch in passing.

They fight Russia but they accept money from Moscow.

It is a great paradox that these two countries which are at the same time the war and the businesses. 

This is enough to put into perspective the moral blackmail exercised by President Zelensky, demanding that Europeans immediately stop trading with Russia.

Last week, he was applauded standing up by French deputies and senators, when he had just cited Renault, Auchan, Leroy-Merlin, which have tens of thousands of Russian employees and whom he accuses of being the sponsors of the Russian war machine.

Europeans are so easy to blame.

They are ashamed of not having broken all the bridges with Russia.

They are afraid of smelling gas.

They are wrong.

They follow the example of realism given them by kyiv and Moscow.

For them, money has no smell.