On April 3, in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller announced a colossal series of gas projects. These involve an expansion of existing big projects or a reactivation of earlier, unimplemented proposals. Ukraine's start of gas imports from Europe, reducing dependence on Gazprom, triggered this Putin-Miller move.
The Slovakian corridor carries the lion’s share of Russian gas supplies to the European Union, representing the direct continuation of Ukraine’s transit pipelines to Europe. The proposed Kobryn-Velke Kapusany line would circumvent Ukraine, but would not affect Slovakia, inasmuch as the same gas volume would enter Slovakia from Poland, instead of entering from Ukraine. The export destinations (Austria with the Baumgarten distribution center, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy) would not be affected either.
