Zelenskyy considers gas transit from Azerbaijan
Pravda Ukraine
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine is ready to transport gas from Azerbaijan.
Source: European Pravda; Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu; Interfax-Ukraine
Details: Volodymyr Zelenskyy reports that he discussed the issue of gas transit with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Ukraineʼs president noted that during the talks with Aliyev, they discussed using Ukrainian infrastructure to transport Azerbaijani gas if Europe needed it.
Quote from Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “It [Azerbaijan – ed.] exports a lot, and by the way, we could use our infrastructure for other joint steps if Europe needs gas, not Russian gas.”
Details: The president explained that Azerbaijan produces 40 billion cubic metres of gas and uses about 14-15 billion, so its export capacity is 25 billion.
Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine can sign all the necessary contracts for gas exports if “we get a signal” from Europe, particularly Eastern Europe.
Background:
- On 1 January, Ukraine stopped the transit of Russian gas, which continued to be received by several EU countries and an unrecognised region of Moldova.
- Moreover, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was not considering renewing the transit agreement with Russian energy giant Gazprom and made it clear that Kyiv would not agree to pump Russian gas disguised as Azerbaijani gas.
- Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico sharply criticised Zelenskyy for these actions and wrote a letter to EU leaders expressing dissatisfaction with the Ukrainian side’s actions.
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