A deal allowing central European countries to buy Russian gas via Ukraine will soon end, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on December 19, even as pro-Kremlin leaders in the European Union scramble to secure cheap fuel supplies.
Speaking at his annual press conference, Mr. Putin announced that the contract for transporting Russian gas through Ukraine will expire on December 31, 2024 without any clear alternative solution.
“This contract will no longer exist, that’s for sure,” Putin said. “But that’s okay – we will survive, and so will Gazprom.” Ukraine has refused to renegotiate the deal directly, instead proposing to use its domestic gas production to supply its neighbors.
Meanwhile, according to Politico, at a press conference in Brussels on the same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also announced that Kiev "will not extend the transportation of Russian gas" after the contract ends.
The long-term agreement, signed in 2019, allows Russian energy giant Gazprom to transport gas through Ukraine’s vast pipeline network to customers in the EU. However, after Russia cuts off gas supplies to countries such as Germany and Poland in 2022, some EU member states such as Slovakia, Hungary and Austria continue to buy gas via this route, despite the EU’s commitment to end its dependence on Russia by 2027.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has publicly called for a solution to extend the deal, saying that Kiev’s decision not to extend the contract with Gazprom “does not mean that we cannot receive gas from the east.” Fico has pledged to raise the issue with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will visit Bulgaria this week in the hope of reaching a deal to ensure continued gas supplies.
