Media: Russia to limit gas transit through Ukrainian territory
Russia is restricting the transit of gas through Ukrainian territory, and will soon exclude its western neighbor from the process of transporting natural gas to western countries, Vedomosti reports.
Vedomosti claims that Gazprom has reduced the flow of gas through Ukrainian territory and has simultaneously increased it in the OPAL pipeline. Recently the European Commission approved the use of 40% of the capacity of the gas pipeline.
According to the opinion of Russian experts, Moscow is trying to reduce its dependence on gas transit through Ukraine, and possibly through Poland in future too.
Two new investments are supposed to help the implementation of such plans: TurkStream and the second line of the Nord Stream pipeline.
Earlier, Moscow said that the idea of Russia constructing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline does not imply a cessation of the transit of Russian gas through the existing pipelines in Ukraine. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry said: “Maintaining gas transit through Ukraine would only be possible if Kyiv offers competitive transit tariffs and levels the known transit risks, including the withdrawal of all claims and the cancellation of lawsuits against Gazprom.”