Addressing Gazprom’s annual general meeting of shareholders, CEO Alexei Miller warned that Gazprom would “never again, under any circumstances” use Ukraine’s gas storage system in the process of delivering Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine (Kommersant-Ukraina, July 4; Nezavisimaya Gazeta, July 10; see EDM, July 15).
This public threat is unprecedented. Whether to be taken at face value or as a bluff, it signifies another attempt to intimidate Ukraine into giving up its gas transportation system to a bilateral “consortium” with Gazprom.
