Kiev faces $1 billion in annual losses after halting Russian gas transit – Reuters
Ukraine’s decision to cease transit of Russian natural gas to Europe will cost up to $1 billion annually, as it will no longer get fees from Moscow, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The government plans to offset the financial hit by drastically increasing gas tariffs for national industries, the news agency said.
Leader Vladimir Zelensky praised the move, calling it “a historic event” that would impose “financial losses” on Russia. He did not comment on the effects the decision could have for the Ukrainian economy.
According to Reuters, Ukraine has essentially quadrupled its domestic gas transmission tariffs. Effective January 1, 2025, the new rate is 502 hryvnias ($11.95) per 1,000 cubic meters, up from 124 hryvnias. This change could cost Ukrainian industries over 1.6 billion hryvnias ($38.2 million) annually, the agency said in another report published this week.
Ukraine’s transit network is connected to the pipeline systems of Moldova, Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia, which then extends to Austria and Italy. The EU Commission has sought to downplay the impact of the gas deal ending by saying that the bloc’s “gas infrastructure is flexible enough to provide gas of non-Russian origin.”
“It has been reinforced with significant new LNG (liquefied natural gas) import capacities since 2022,” a spokesman for the commission told journalists.
The news of Ukraine ending Russian gas transit is expected to spark an increase in LNG prices in Asia, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, adding that European consumers still need to replace around 5% of their gas. The transit halt has already led to prices in the EU rising to €50 per megawatt hour for the first time in over a year.
Kiev’s move drew criticism from Bratislava. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico expressed concern over the impact on his country, slamming what he called the dominance of “selfish national interests” and “nonsensical geopolitical goals” within the EU.
