Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said that the country can achieve full energy independence. To achieve this goal, he said, the state must take “four basic steps”.
“Increasing Ukrainian gas production; energy efficiency - consume less gas thanks to the latest technologies and reasonable energy consumption; integration of the Ukrainian GTS into the European market; protecting Ukrainians who cannot fully pay for utilities through a system of subsidies, mechanisms for monetization of subsidies, ”wrote Groisman on Facebook.
He also added that Ukraine began its “path to energy independence” about four years ago, when Kiev refused to buy Russian gas, which Moscow allegedly used as a “hybrid weapon”.
“In the future, for Ukraine it is absolutely realistic not to depend on any gas supplies from abroad,” the Ukrainian premier believes.
We will note that earlier the similar point of view was stated by the president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. According to him, the country must meet its needs with its own gas.
“My goal for the next five years is to make Ukraine non-volatile,” he said at a meeting with representatives of business and the public in the Volyn region on Tuesday, January 15.
We emphasize that at the moment Poroshenko did not announce his nomination for a second term, despite the fact that the election campaign started three weeks ago. At the same time, it is difficult to talk about the prospects of the current leader of Ukraine in the upcoming March 31 elections, since for the time being he heads only anti-rating of candidates “for which voters would never vote.”
"In Ukraine, they are engaged in demagogy"
The Ukrainian authorities continue to “write fairy tales,” said Igor Anansky, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy.
“Today, Ukraine has no opportunity to be independent of third-party gas, no matter whether it is Russian or not. They simply do not have enough of their own resources. If ever it will be enough, we will only be happy. Russia will be neither warm nor cold from this. If Ukraine buys gas from us, we sell it, do not buy it - we do not sell. Everything is very simple. There are enough consumers of our gas, it is in demand. Therefore, if Ukraine does not need it, we will not supply it, ”the parliamentarian stressed in an interview with RT.
He also noted that in Kiev they forgot about the needs of their own population, whose position is deteriorating.
“I recall that over the past few years, every resident of Ukraine began to pay several times more for utilities than it was until 2014. Let the Ukrainian government think about why this is happening. Because they are simply engaged in demagogy, and do not think about ordinary citizens, therefore they suffer, ”said Ananah.
- Reuters
- © Gleb Garanich
We emphasize that Ukraine regularly raises the question of the threat to the energy security of the state, which allegedly comes from Russia. In particular, Ukrainian politicians declare the need to curtail the construction of Nord Stream - 2, the main pipeline from the Russian Federation to Germany. In Kiev, they fear that the creation of a new gas artery will affect the country's transit status. In 2019, the 10-year gas agreement with Moscow signed in 2009 ends.
On Monday, January 21, trilateral negotiations on the gas problem will begin with the participation of representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the EU. As the head of Naftogaz, Andrei Kobolev, said, the main goal for Kiev is to preserve transit status. Meanwhile, he did not rule out that pumping fuel through Ukraine could be stopped.
"Without an obvious thought"
It is the government of Ukraine that uses “hybrid weapons” against the population of the country. This opinion was expressed by the Deputy Director for Gas Issues of the National Energy Security Fund, Alexey Grivach. He stressed that in four years, the Ukrainian authorities have more than 10 times raised gas prices for citizens, and in the near future, growth will continue.
“The situation is very difficult. If the Ukrainian government implements all these plans, then they will achieve energy independence from foreign suppliers. But at the cost of simply not leaving consumers. Because it is obvious that with such gas prices, people in Ukraine and industrial consumers will not be able to buy gas and pay for it, ”said Grivach RT.
The statement by Groisman does not carry any obvious thought, said Alexander Pasechnik, head of the analytical department of the National Energy Security Foundation, in a conversation with RT. He noted that Ukraine’s problems are not at all in Ukraine’s dependence on foreign gas suppliers.
“They are in tariffs, especially for the population. They constantly raise them because of the IMF lending. That is, market liberalization must be within the framework dictated by the Monetary Fund, otherwise there will be no next tranches. That's the problem. And this in conditions of impoverishment provokes social upheavals, discontent and subsequently an explosion, ”the analyst explained.
In early January, a representative of the Ukrainian "Opposition Platform - For Life" Viktor Medvedchuk summed up the results of five years that have passed since euromaidan. According to him, beggarly salaries and pensions of Ukrainians, exorbitant prices and tariffs have become the realities of “post-promoted Ukraine”.
In particular, the statistics was given, according to which, since 2013, the gas tariff for the population has increased from 725 UAH. up to 8550 UAH per thousand cubic meters, that is, 11.8 times.