The United States has given a clear signal to Ukraine that it is useless to fight against Nord Stream 2.

This was stated by the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the Batkivshchyna party, the first deputy chairman of the committee on energy and housing and communal services Alexei Kucherenko.

“We are already being told clearly:“ Forget it. ”

“Nord Stream 2” is already a settled issue, and there is no need to whine, take offense, no need to travel and give stupid interviews, ”he said on the air of the“ NASH ”TV channel, thus commenting on the words of the senior adviser on energy security of the State Department Amos Hochstein that Kiev does not need to get hung up on the Russian gas pipeline.

Earlier, Amos Hochstein urged the Kiev authorities "not to get hung up" only on Nord Stream 2, as this could lead to the fact that Ukraine will lose its position in the modern world energy systems.

“Let's not look narrowly at Nord Stream 2.

Let's look at our future, in which we must not wake up and understand that Ukraine is isolated from the modern energy systems of the world and the energy economy only because someone did not understand that it was time to modernize, ”the diplomat said in an interview with the Ukrainian newspaper Novoe time "September 17.

In his opinion, the republic should develop nuclear energy in order to integrate into the single energy space of Europe, as well as its gas fields.

“We need to effectively use the Ukrainian energy deposits, and not just talk about Nord Stream 2 and gas from Russia,” Hochstein emphasized.

  • Amos Hochstein, Senior Energy Security Adviser, US State Department

  • © AP Photo / Yorgos Karahalis

At the same time, Kiev is not abandoning its attempts to complicate the operation of Nord Stream 2.

In particular, the former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for European Integration Olena Zerkal, in an article for European Pravda, proposed a number of steps that, in her opinion, would “help” Ukraine in the gas struggle with Russia.

So, she believes, first you need to achieve the inclusion of the country in the European "risk group", which is a mechanism for preventing crisis situations with the availability of gas.

Then, team up with international partners to prove that Gazprom is allegedly abusing its monopoly on fuel supplies to the EU.

And then "make Nord Stream 2 meet all the requirements of the EU's third energy package."

“These are European rules that will allow to break Gazprom's monopoly in gas supplies,” Zerkal is sure.

In addition, on September 16, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed an order on the creation of a working group to minimize threats from the construction of gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine.

It included the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Ivan Bakanov, the chairman of the board of Naftogaz Yuriy Vitrenko, the head of the Ministry of Energy German Galushchenko and the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Aleksey Danilov.

Andriy Yermak, the head of the president's office, became the head of the new structure.

"The working group should prepare proposals on measures to prevent and minimize negative consequences for the state from the construction of gas pipelines and develop proposals to reduce certain threats in the areas of security and energy," the website of the President of Ukraine says.

Gas at a minimum

In addition, Kiev is already actively calculating the losses from the launch of Nord Stream 2.

According to an RT source at the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, after the gas pipeline is put into operation, the country may lose $ 5-6 billion.

“This includes not only losses due to transit, but also a forced increase in tariffs for the population.

With the existing infrastructure, which is designed to pump more than 140 billion cubic meters of gas per year and its condition, the tariff should be increased fourfold, ”he said.

The official also noted that attempts are now being made to reduce the cost of gas supply to the population by "removing some compressors from work."

However, according to him, the maintenance of the GTS is still expensive.

“Moreover, we do not understand what volumes of gas will pass through the gas transportation system in the coming years,” said an official of the department.

In turn, a RT source in the Batkivshchyna party says that Ukrainians already need to prepare for power outages.

“Officials are obviously hoping for a warm winter again, since there is less gas in the storage facilities than last year.

But forecasters predict a harsh and snowy winter.

It is clear that, first of all, gas will be directed to the population, and industrialists will have to save themselves on their own.

But then there will be no reserve to support the power engineers, and rolling blackouts may become a reality, ”he explained.

  • Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

  • © REUTERS / Valentyn Ogirenko

The Servant of the People party also agrees with this opinion, noting that, apparently, the Ukrainian government does not have any action plan in this situation.

“Industrial enterprises are already breathing in frankincense, in the villages they are already installing stoves and heating them with firewood.

As far as I understand, the government has no plan of what to do in this situation.

As they say, the rescue of drowning people is the work of the drowning people themselves, "a source told RT.

In turn, the office of the Ukrainian president noted that Zelensky is still awaiting proposals regarding the future of the Ukrainian GTS.

“To be honest, I don’t know what they will be.

The simplest solution is to increase the production of its own gas, but for this, state-owned companies need new technologies, ”a source told RT.

Earlier, Sergei Makogon, General Director of the Ukrainian GTS Operator, announced possible difficulties with the heating season in the country.

True, he blamed Russia for the coming difficulties.

“Yes, she (the situation -

RT

) is difficult.

Why difficult?

Because we are expecting some kind of hybrid action by our partner (Russia -

RT

).

There are several scenarios, we are processing them, ”Makogon said on the air of the 1 + 1 TV channel.

According to him, now the country as a whole consumes 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year, of which 20 billion are produced independently, and 10 billion are imported.

“And these 20 billion that we are extracting is enough to provide for the population, because the consumption of the population is about 8 billion, another 8 billion is heat communenergo, this is heating in cities,” said the head of the Ukrainian GTS.

He also noted that by cold weather, underground storage will have 19 billion cubic meters of gas, which, however, will only be enough for a standard winter. 

"On market conditions"

Meanwhile, Russia has repeatedly expressed its readiness to maintain gas transit through Ukraine, provided that it is economically feasible.

In particular, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about this at a press conference following talks in Moscow with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“We are ready, and I want to say this again, I have already said it publicly and I want to emphasize that we are ready to transit gas through the territory of Ukraine after 2024.

But we must understand for how long, in what volume.

And for this we must receive an answer, including from our European partners, how much they are ready to buy from us.

This is the obvious thing.

We cannot sign a transit contract if we do not have contracts for the supply to our consumers in Europe, ”the Russian leader noted on August 20.

Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Board of Gazprom, spoke on the same topic in July.

“The issues of new volumes of gas purchases from Russia for transit through the territory of Ukraine should be resolved on market conditions and at market prices.

For the volume of new purchases of Russian gas via the Ukrainian route, in total, higher than the current transit obligations, Gazprom is even ready to increase the volume of transit through Ukraine, "Miller emphasized.

It should be reminded that the construction of Nord Stream 2, in which Ukraine sees a threat to the suspension of gas transit through its territory, was finally completed on September 10. 

"Washington is tired of Ukrainian claims"

According to experts, the US calls for Ukraine to stop constantly complaining about Nord Stream 2 speak of Washington's fatigue from Kiev's claims.

“The Ukrainian leadership has developed a management style in which it believes that someone should give them something.

In this case, Hochstein acted as a kind of guide who must convey to Kiev that Washington is tired of Ukrainian claims, and this is a signal that local politicians need to rely on their own strength, "a senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO explained in a conversation with RT. RAS Vladimir Olenchenko.

  • Pipe-laying process of Nord Stream 2

  • globallookpress.com

  • © Stefan Sauer

However, from his point of view, Kiev is unlikely to have enough funds to modernize its GTS on its own, and its western partners are not eager to invest in a gas pipeline that may be unclaimed.

“The Ukrainian side previously tried to offer Germany to invest in its GTS.

German companies, however, declined from this offer, because they have their own gas distribution system, and Ukraine is just a transit country.

Even if its pipeline is to be modernized, it is not very clear for what purpose.

After all, there are no guarantees of continued transit through the country, ”the expert explained.

In turn, Deputy Director General for Gas Problems at the National Energy Security Fund Oleksiy Grivach doubted that the call of the Americans to develop Ukrainian deposits would be heard in Kiev, since significant funds must also be invested in this.

“In general, the business climate in Ukraine does not allow serious players to make such difficult investment decisions.

An example of this is the withdrawal of many European and American companies from gas production projects, ”Grivach said in an interview with RT.

In this regard, Olenchenko stressed, Kiev should think about alternative options for organizing its gas supply, and not wait for help from Western partners.

“Sooner or later, the Ukrainian GTS will either partially or completely fail.

Therefore, it is necessary now to worry about how to solve this problem, including finding sources of funding, organizers and performers, because in Ukraine itself there is no one from this category, ”the expert summed up.