Russia comments on Ukraine's energy problems
Ukraine’s energy security is not threatened by Russia, despite Kiev’s insistence, but by the complete failure of its own system and the paralysis of the current authorities, the Russian Foreign Ministry has claimed.
Writing on Telegram, on Wednesday, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed that Kiev was shooting itself in the foot when it comes to the energy industry. In particular, she noted the recent statement published by Canadian energy company TIU Canada, which recently announced it would pull out from Ukraine, despite having invested millions of dollars.
In recent years, Ukraine and the US have accused Russia of using energy as a weapon. In particular, it has been claimed that the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was built to threaten Kiev, which currently receives billions of dollars per year from transit fees and relies heavily on this income for its budget.
Last month, TIU Canada dismantled a 10.5-megawatt solar power plant in Nikopol, a city near the country’s south coast. Commissioned in 2018 at the cost of $12 million, it was later disconnected from the electricity grid following a dispute with the local Nikopol FerroAlloy Plant, where the solar power plant was also located. It remained disconnected for two years, costing millions before TIU Canada opted to take it down. According to the company, the owner of the Nikopol FerroAlloy Plant, oligarch Igor Kolomoysky, decided to cut the company off from the electric grid in an attempt to force the Canadians to sell it at a knockdown price.
Kolomoysky, a billionaire businessman, heads the Privat Group, which controls thousands of companies in a wide range of sectors within the Ukrainian economy. He is thought to be the financial backer of current President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“According to media reports, certain structures in the underbelly of the Ukrainian oligarchy have taken over the Nikopol solar power plant, restricting access to it to Canadians. The company eventually decided to dismantle it, even though $12 million had been spent on construction alone,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram. “I can imagine what it must have been like for the transatlantic businessman who had brought state-of-the-art green energy to Ukraine to have his business snatched away from him.”
According to the spokeswoman, this is an example of Ukraine hurting its own energy security, despite Kiev and Washington constantly blaming Russia.
“Few things worry the West and especially the US as much as Ukraine’s energy security,” Zakharova claimed. “We wait with bated breath for our partners to speak out on their favorite topic. And while they are silent, I would say: it is not Russia that threatens Ukraine’s energy security. And not even Ukrainian corruption anymore. But it is the absolute dysfunction of the state system and the paralysis of the authorities caused by the Maidan dictatorship.”
“The root cause of all the troubles is the destruction of Ukraine’s national interests by its Western handlers in the name of their own goals and objectives,” she continued.
According to Zakharova, Russia is, on the contrary, a reliable energy supplier in Europe and the world, a fact which has “been proven by decades of mutually beneficial partnership.”
