The Ukrainian authorities are trying to justify themselves in front of the population for buying expensive gas while getting cheaper gas from Russia. Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, spoke about this in an interview with RT TV channel.
So he commented on the words of the head of Naftogaz Yuriy Vitrenko, according to whom Ukraine is forced to import gas at high prices to ensure the country’s energy security.
“<…> European companies buy it from Gazprom and sell it to Ukrainian companies. That is, there has never been any other gas (except Russian – ed.) in Ukraine”, the expert explained, calling Vetrenko’s recent statement a “political PR measure”.
He concluded that the same slogans are used in Lithuania and Poland, but in reality the authorities are trying to cash in on consumers.
Since 2015, Ukraine has not bought Russian gas directly, but de facto buys it from Europe. Last September, Kiev completely switched to buying gas from Russia through a virtual reverse, and about half of the transit volumes now immediately remain on the territory of Ukraine.
Until 2020, this was hampered by a transit contract with Gazprom: Ukraine pledged to accept gas at the border with Russia and transfer it back to Gazprom Export at the border with Europe. Therefore, Kiev used a physical reverse from the EU, which led to an increase in the price of blue fuel. At the same time, Naftogaz Ukrainy stated that direct gas imports from Russia would jeopardize the country’s sovereignty.