MOSCOW, December 30 Moscow, when considering the issue of continuing gas transit through Ukraine after 2024, will take into account the demand from consumers, said Dmitry Birichevsky, director of the economic cooperation department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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“When planning natural gas supplies in Russia, factors such as consumer demand and the operability of cross-border infrastructure are naturally taken into account. It is this logic, as I believe, that will be guided when considering the issue of continuing Ukrainian transit,” he said.
Birichevsky recalled that in Kyiv they declared disinterest in extending the contract.
< br />“In this context, the question arises for us: “Does the refusal to transit gas through the territory of Ukraine next year mean depriving Kiev of income from it?” he said.
The diplomat also noted that, regardless of the political situation, Russian companies strive to properly fulfill all their obligations to counterparties in Europe for the supply of energy resources, including under the current contract.
At the same time, he recalled that March 2022 In 2009, the EU announced a policy of abandoning gas from Russia, which gave Europeans huge competitive advantages.
Moscow and Kyiv signed a five-year transit contract at the end of 2019, according to which Gazprom guarantees the pumping of 65 billion cubic meters of gas in the first year and 40 billion each in the next four. The contract expires at the end of 2024. The head of Naftogaz, Alexey Chernyshov, said at the end of October that Ukraine does not intend to renew the agreement.
Russian pipeline gas is now supplied to Europe through one of the two entry points into the Ukrainian gas transportation system and through Turkey, where it arrives via the Turkish Stream «.