Russian gas deliveries to Europe through a Ukrainian pipeline will end on January 1 as a five-year agreement signed in 2019 expires at the end of 2024.
Russian gas continued to flow through the Soviet-era Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline following the Russian invasion of Ukraine under a deal signed between Russia’s Gazprom and Ukraine’s Naftogaz, both state-run gas companies.
The Russian news agency TASS reported there were no orders for gas to be pumped through the pipeline on January 1 and said that meant the chances of a last-minute deal to keep the gas flowing were slim.
Ukraine chose not to renew the agreement, a step that angered Slovakia, which receives Russian gas through the Ukrainian pipeline. From Slovakia, the pipeline split and took gas to Austria and the Czech Republic.
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, an opponent of NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine, had warned Slovakia could take “reciprocal measures” in response to Ukraine not renewing the deal. He said those measures could include cutting electricity exports to Ukraine.
In comments to POLITICO, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko dismissed Fico’s threat, saying, “I don’t think that they would do this.” If Slovakia does cut electricity to Ukraine, Poland has said it could boost power production.
According to Reuters, Slovakia is not expected to face gas shortages and could make up for what it loses through the pipeline by importing more from Hungary, Poland, and Austria.
