It is risky and carelessly to buy natural gas directly from Russia’s Gazprom in the current format of relations, although the transfer of purchase of Russian gas to the Ukrainian border with Russia could change the situation, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Kistion has said.
“Never say never … If we moved the entry point for transit to the eastern border, this option [direct purchase of gas from Gazprom] could be considered,” he said in an interview with Ekonomichna Pravda published on Oct. 23.
Commenting on the estimates that Russian gas is cheaper than gas purchased by Ukraine in Europe, Kistion recalled that “free cheese is only in a mousetrap.”
“We can analyze the previous experience, when we were tied with attractive conditions, and then solved all their issues,” he said.
As reported, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko set the task of switching the purchase of Russian gas by Europe to the eastern border of Ukraine after 2019.
“Due to the fact that the [gas transit] contract is expiring in 2019, our task is to achieve the revolutionary change in the organization of transit with the help of the European Union,” he said when delivering his annual message to the Verkhovna Rada early September.
He said that Ukraine should provide transit services not to Russia, but to the European Union.
Naftogaz Ukrainy said commenting the statement of Poroshenko that European companies that would buy Russian gas on the eastern border of Ukraine could provide for the future loading of the Ukrainian gas transport system.
Naftogaz stopped direct gas purchase from Gazprom 696 days ago.
