The United States hopes that the end of the contract for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine will be a powerful step towards ending the era of Europe's dependence on Russian energy resources. This was stated by US Deputy Secretary of State Jeffrey Payette in an interview with the Voice of America, UNN reports.
Details
"I really hope so," Payette said when asked about it.
The American official sees no reason to extend the agreement, which has allowed Russia to exert influence on Ukraine for many years.
"Trade in energy resources, especially gas, has been the main vector of Russia's influence on the Ukrainian economy since independence. So why in God's name would anyone be interested in continuing this relationship?" - Mr. Pyatt wonders.
Mr. Pyatt, who has been visiting Europe and Asia over the past two weeks, is convinced that the international community understands the need to cut off Russian energy resources.
"Even Japan - and I talked about this with both the Japanese energy minister and the Japanese foreign minister on Thursday and Friday - even Japan, which gets about 10% of its gas from Sakhalin, even they clearly realize that Russia is an unreliable supplier," Pyatt added.
In order to further limit Russia's ability to use energy revenues for war, the United States and its allies will increase sanctions, Pyatt assured.
Commenting on the pressure on Ukraine to extend the Russian gas transit contract, Pyatt noted that "it's important that the pressure is coming from only one or two countries, but the message from the European Commission is very clear.
The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State welcomed European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen's statement on the rejection of Russian gas and the newly appointed Commissioner's commitment to phase out gas, nuclear, and all forms of dependence on Russian energy resources in order to reach zero supplies from Russia in 2027.
Addendum
The gas transit contract between Ukraine and Russia expires on January 1, 2025. Europe has already taken steps to prepare for the transit shutdown. The share of Russian gas in Europe has dropped to 6%, and the share of Russian gas going through Ukraine has dropped to 4%, the newspaper said.
Austria and Slovakia are considered to be the most vulnerable, having purchased more than 90% of gas from Russia last year. Due to fears about gas supplies from Russia, the Moldovan parliament on Friday, December 13, voted to introduce a state of emergency in the energy sector, fearing that gas supplies to Russia-controlled Transnistria would be disrupted.
Молдова оголошує надзвичайний стан на 60 днів через можливу енергетичну кризу 13.12.24, 09:34
Slovakia and Hungary are making efforts at the state level to ensure that Ukraine continues to transit Russian gas. On Monday, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico spoke by phone with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal about this. Over the weekend, Fico said his country was in "very intense" talks to ensure that Ukraine continues to transit Russian gas in 2025.
In a social media post on Monday, Shmyhal rejected the possibility of extending the agreement with Gazprom.
On Tuesday, a number of companies in Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and Italy sent a letter to the European Commission complaining that the completion of the deal "will lead to higher prices for consumers in Europe" and "make it harder to supply gas," Politico reports .
European Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen announced over the weekend that the EU is preparing to end the contract. In an interview with Politico, Jorgensen, who took office in early December, said his top priority is to "completely sever the EU's energy ties with Russia.