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FSUOGM: Russia open to post-Ukraine transit

Russia is open to continuing natural gas transits via Ukraine after its current contract with Kyiv expires at the end of 2024, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on July 22.

Peskov was responding to a joint statement issued by Germany and the US on July 21, in which they declared they would let Nord Stream 2 go ahead but would punish Russia if it tried to use the pipeline as a weapon. They also said they would lobby for transits via Ukraine to continue beyond 2024, potentially for a further ten years.

While Moscow is prepared to continue transits, Peskov said the Kremlin was waiting for signals from Kyiv that it is willing to provide “economically acceptable conditions” for such transits. Russia’s Gazprom has recently been refusing additional transit capacity via Ukraine beyond contractual volumes, complaining that the terms are not favourable enough.

While Peskov welcomed the consensus reached between Germany and the US, he took issue with some of the wording of the joint statement, particularly its reference to “aggression” by Russia.

“We categorically disagree with this wording,” the spokesman said. “Neither in Ukraine nor elsewhere beyond its borders has there been any aggression by Russia. Russia has not engaged in any harmful actions.”

Russia has never used “energy resources as an instrument of political pressure,” Peskov said, describing the country as “a responsible guarantor” of Europe’s energy security.

In other news, Russia plans to auction off subsoil rights to two gas fields on September 8 on the Arctic Gydan Peninsula near a project that Novatek is developing, the country’s natural resources ministry announced on July 22. And the auction terms mean Novatek is effectively the only company able to take part in the contest.