In 2025 “this will all stop”
Kyiv wants to stop oil transit from Russia at the end of the year
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Around two and a half years after the start of the war of aggression, Russian oil is still flowing through a transit pipeline on Ukrainian territory. The background is primarily the interests of neighboring countries such as Hungary. However, Kyiv now declares that the run-through will be over at the end of the year.
Ukraine wants to end the transit of Russian oil and gas to the EU at the turn of the year. This was confirmed by adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podoljak, in an interview with the Nowyny.Live channel. Ukraine has concluded contracts as a transit country that are valid until January 1, 2025 and which the country cannot terminate unilaterally. “But undoubtedly, on January 1, 2025, this will all stop,” Podoljak said. However, Kiev is ready to pipe gas from the countries of Central Asia or Azerbaijan to Europe. What is crucial for Ukraine is to deprive Russia of sources of income from the sale of raw materials.
The contract for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine to Europe between the state-owned companies Gazprom and Naftogaz ends on December 31, 2024. Despite the war of aggression started by Moscow more than two years ago, it has so far been fulfilled – also at the insistence of Ukraine's European neighbors, in particular Hungary. However, the leadership in Kiev has made it clear several times that this contract will not be extended – most recently President Volodymyr Zelenskyj emphasized this again.
Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia recently received Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. The northern leg of the line leading to Germany was largely shut down because of Western sanctions against Russian oil. According to Russian media reports, the Kazakh subsidiary of the energy supplier Eni began pumping oil from the Caspian Sea through the pipeline in August. This compromise allows Russia to generate transit revenue, but not to sell its own oil to Europe, the country's most lucrative market.
