The final chapter for Russian gas transit through Ukraine?

UKRAINE - In Brief 30 Dec 2024 by Dmytro Boyarchuk
On January 1, 2025, the 5-year gas transit contract between Naftogaz and Gazprom is set to expire. Ukrainian authorities are resolute in their decision to end this unusual business arrangement with an aggressor actively seeking to destroy the country. Predictably, the move has sparked outrage from Russia's allies, including Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who continue to benefit—perhaps even personally—from Gazprom's sales of natural gas to select European consumers. I’ve been reading Western media on this issue and can’t help but marvel at how differently people think when they’re sitting in comfortable offices, far removed from the reality of missile or drone strike threats. They enjoy regular sleep and have the luxury of planning their lives far beyond a single week ahead. The first striking naivety of Western journalists is the assumption that gas transit from Russia somehow protected Ukraine's gas transit system from missile and drone attacks. Come on... Russians have targeted the gas transit system repeatedly, and it wasn’t the gas transit contract that shielded the system but the fact that the majority of gas piplines is underground—not to mention Ukraine's significantly strengthened air defense. The Kremlin has no qualms about striking any targets or killing anyone. Why on Earth would anyone believe that a gas transit contract imposes any limits on Moscow in this existential war? This summer, Russia conducted a series of particularly intense airstrikes on gas pumping stations and storage facilities—critical components of the gas transit system—in an effort to deter Western consumers from purchasing natural gas via Uk...

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