The words that Russia is preparing for a “gas war” do not correspond to reality. This was announced in a conversation with RT by the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy Valery Seleznev. Earlier, Naftogaz’s executive director Yury Vitrenko announced such a “preparation”.
“I think this statement is for the sake of the statement. It is clear that Russia has never prepared for any gas wars. Our country has no such task in any of the directions, ”said Seleznev.
According to him, the issue of gas transit through the territory of Ukraine for Russia is of a purely economic nature. However, the western partners of the Russian Federation "strongly politicize" this topic.
At the same time, the parliamentarian stressed that at the moment one should not take such statements on the part of representatives of the Ukrainian state company on the extraction, transportation and processing of oil and natural gas too seriously. According to him, relations between Ukraine and Russia in the gas sector may change after the change of power in Kiev.
“There should be no particular changes in the approaches themselves. But we hope that, from an economic point of view, the actions of the Ukrainian side will be more reasonable and conscious, ”the deputy explained.
On the eve, the executive director of NAK Naftogaz of Ukraine, Yuriy Vitrenko, in an interview with the media project Skrypin.ua, stated that there is evidence of the preparation of the Russian side for a gas war. According to him, this is indicated by an increase in the volume of gas transit through Ukraine.
According to Vitrenko, Russia is allegedly trying to pump more gas into European storage facilities. Earlier, the head of Naftogaz, Andrei Kobolev, spoke about the “attempt” of Moscow to provoke another gas crisis.
However, Gazprom indicated on its website that the increase in the supply of fuel to Europe through the Ukrainian GTS is connected with the repair work that was carried out on the Yamal - Europe gas pipeline in the first half of April.
Meanwhile, Vitrenko commented on the possibility of stopping the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine, if by January 1, 2020 a corresponding agreement is not concluded. The executive director of Naftogaz acknowledged that the Ukrainian company does not have a strategy for operating the gas transmission system, unless the parties reach an agreement.
“There is a preliminary decision that after the tripartite talks, which should take place in May, we will still do it (we will develop a strategy. - RT ).” It is late. This model should have been done before. But, frankly, there is no such model now, ”said Vitrenko.
In January, the Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak stressed that Moscow and Kiev are interested in continuing gas transit to Europe, but for this the Ukrainian GTS must be competitive in comparison with such main pipelines as the Nord Stream and Turkish Stream.
At the same time, earlier Prime Minister of Ukraine Vladimir Groysman instructed Naftogaz to look for “cheap gas all over the world” in order to reduce its cost for the population of the country. However, the chairman of the Federation Council’s information policy commission, Alexei Pushkov, noted that it is unlikely that Kiev will find gas cheaper than Russian.
“Won Groisman told Naftogaz“ to look for cheap gas all over the world. ” Cool thought! Very promising are Indonesia and Canada. The gas is full, but the delivery is expensive. And wherever they search, they will not find it cheaper than in neighboring Russia. We wish you success, ”wrote the senator on Twitter.
"It's easy to destroy everything."
It should be noted that in May the next round of trilateral negotiations (RF-Ukraine-EU) on the conclusion of a new gas contract on transit through Ukrainian territory from 2020 should take place.
On the eve of “Naftogaz” they said that they intend at the upcoming meeting to offer “Gazprom” to book 60 billion cubic meters a year of the transit capacity of the gas transmission system of Ukraine for a period of 10 years. At the same time, another 30 billion cubic meters per year will remain free, which will allow the transit of gas through Ukraine to other companies.
- Archival photo
- RIA News
- © Maxim Blinov
According to political analyst and economist Oleksandr Dudchak, the Ukrainian side, while negotiating, is trying to get the maximum benefit for itself by offering sometimes impossible conditions.
“Why not do it for the mutual benefit of all parties? Why do you need to drag the blanket over yourself and put up requirements that are sometimes impossible to fulfill? For example, they require that Russia guarantee gas pumping in volumes that correspond to maximum peaks. However, Russia will not accept such conditions, ”said the source RT.
According to the expert, excessive pressure from Kiev can lead to the fact that the volume of fuel pumping through Ukrainian territory will fall to 10-15 billion cubic meters, while the profitability of GTU is at the level of 60 billion cubic meters.
“Everything, as usual, is easy to destroy, and it will be difficult to restore. It would be possible to solve everything for a long time and not bring the situation to the point of absurdity and possible large losses, ”the expert believes.