Moscow, Kyiv end Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukraine

KYIV (AFP) — Russia's gas transit to Europe via Ukraine stopped on Wednesday, Moscow and Kyiv said, ending a decades-long arrangement and marking the latest casualty of the war between the neighbors.

Russian gas has been supplied to Europe via pipelines crossing Ukraine since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991 in an arrangement that earned revenues for Moscow from the gas and for Kyiv from the transit fees.

The latest transit contract expired on Wednesday with Ukraine opting not to extend the deal following Russia's 2022 invasion.

Russian gas accounted for less than 10 percent of the European Union's (EU) gas imports in 2023 — down from more than 40 percent before the war.

But some EU members, mostly in the east, still depend heavily on Russian gas for geographical and political reasons.

"We have stopped the transit of Russian gas," Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko said in a statement, calling it "a historical event."

"Russia is losing its markets, it will suffer financial losses," he added.

Russia's Gazprom energy giant said in a separate statement that "Russian gas has not been supplied for transit via Ukraine since 8 a.m."

It said it had lost the "technical and legal right" to ship its gas across Ukraine to Europe.

European natural gas prices climbed above 50 euros ($51.78) per megawatt hour for the first time in over a year on Tuesday as buyers in Eastern Europe braced for the halt in supplies.

EU and North Atlantic Treaty Organization members Hungary and Slovakia have maintained close ties with the Kremlin despite the invasion.

The halt in Russian gas transit through Ukraine will force some countries to dip deeper into their reserves and seek to import more liquefied natural gas.

But Hungary is set to be largely unaffected by the move, as it receives most of its Russian gas via the Black Sea pipeline, an alternative route that bypasses Ukraine by running via Turkey and up through the Balkans.

Brussels has downplayed the impact the loss of Russian gas supply will have on the 27-member bloc.

"The Commission has been working for more than a year specifically on preparing for a scenario without Russian gas transiting via Ukraine," it told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Tuesday.

State of emergency

The tiny nation of Moldova had already introduced a 60-day state of emergency earlier this month in anticipation of Kyiv's expected cut.

Then on Saturday, Russia's Gazprom announced it too would halt gas deliveries due to a dispute over debt, sparking furious accusations of "oppressive tactics" from Moldova's prime minister.

In the capital Chisinau, where most of the festive light displays will be snuffed out, some residents voiced their fear of what comes next.

"It's terrible, nobody knows what's going to happen. I've bought some candles and a generator," Cristina, a 21-year-old student who refused to give her surname, told AFP.

Gazprom had already reduced its deliveries to Moldova since the beginning of the invasion, with the Russian company solely supplying the unrecognized breakaway state of Transnistria.

But the Moscow-backed region's power station still provides some two-thirds of the electricity consumed across the country.

"The Kremlin has once again resorted to energy blackmail in order to influence the 2025 parliamentary elections and undermine our European path," said Moldova's President Maia Sandu.

The pro-European politician was reelected in November after a vote marred by accusations of Russian interference.

Sandu offered humanitarian aid for the residents of breakaway Transnistria, who would otherwise find themselves without heating in the depths of midwinter.