Russia's Gazprom claims it doesn’t plan to stop gas transit through Ukraine
Alexey Miller, CEO of Gazprom, said that the company has never raised the issue of stopping gas transit through Ukraine, RIA Novosti reported.
According to him, Russia’s resource base is currently shifting “north”, so the central gas-transport corridor “won’t have the same level of resources.” Miller emphasized that the gas transit through Ukraine can remain at a rate of 10-15 billion m3 of gas per year, but Kyiv must justify “the economic feasibility of a new transit contract.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the project of the gas pipeline Nord Stream-2 is not possible without gas transit through Ukraine. She discussed the Nord Stream-2 project with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a telephone conversation on April 9.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called Nord Stream-2 a “political bribe” for Russia’s loyalty. According to him, Moscow’s goal is “an economic and energy blockade of Ukraine in order to cause great damage to the country.”
On March 27, German authorities allowed the construction of the North Stream-2 in an exclusive economic zone of the country. The gas pipeline will go along the bottom of the Baltic Sea; 55 billion m3 of gas will be delivered annually to Europe. The cost of the project is €9.5 billion.