Moscow accuses Western powers of putting financial gains before own citizens amid suspended gas deliveries

The leadership of the United States, the European Union and Kyiv bear the full responsibility for the suspension of Russian gas transit through the territory of Ukraine as Gazprom was meeting its contractual obligations.

The official spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, has highlighted this key differentiation during a press briefing speaking to reporters, Caliber.Az reports citing Russian media outlets.

"We emphasize that it was the Kyiv authorities that decided to stop the flow of natural gas from Russia to European countries, despite Gazprom fulfilling its contractual obligations. The responsibility for halting Russian gas supplies rests entirely with the United States, the puppet-regime in Kyiv and the leaders of the European states, who sacrificed the well-being of their citizens in order to financially support the American economy," Zakharova stressed.

She made the statement amid the emerging news that Russian gas has stopped flowing through the Ukrainian transit corridor as Kyiv has opted out of extending the gas contract, an energy route that had been in place since the Soviet era. 

In his speech announcing the suspension of the route, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recalled that an average of over 130 billion cubic metres of Russian gas having been pumping through this route annually. 

As Caliber.Az recalls, the transit agreement for Russian gas through Ukrainian territory expired on January 1, 2025. The Russian state gas operator, Gazprom, does not have the technical and legal framework to continue using this route, which resulted in the complete halt of gas being supplied from the morning of January 1.

While Kyiv announced its intention to halt the transportation of Russian gas for good, they did express their readiness to resume supplies through its gas transportation system at the request of the European Commission, provided the gas is not of Russian origin. According to Russian media, President Putin also pointed to the possibility of establishing contracts through third-party intermediaries, including Azerbaijani, Turkish, Hungarian or Slovak companies.

Russian energy experts believe that a possible scenario would involve transferring gas ownership at the Russia-Ukraine border, meaning the natural resource would be bought by a new owner who continues the transit through Ukrainian territory. The then-following transit would then occur within the framework of auctions in which European companies could participate.

Although the unprecedented move by Europe to detach itself from Russian energy dependency was well received by many EU governments, like Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, who called the development “a new victory” for Europe, not everyone is celebrating. Slovak leader Robert Fico sharply criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shortly before the expiration of the energy contract. He emphasized that while this decision might not directly affect Ukraine’s energy supply, it could have dire economic repercussions for Europe.

In an open letter sent to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Slovakia's president projected that the halt of gas transit could lead to an additional €40 to €50 billion ($42 billion to $52 billion) in annual gas costs for European households and businesses, as well as another €60 billion to €70 billion in higher electricity prices. In contrast, Russia would lose only an approximate €2 billion annually. 

By Nazrin Sadigova