“Balkan Stream” becomes the coffin lid for the Ukrainian gas transportation system” – “Mirror of the Week”
No statements or actions by Kyiv can now stop the operation of gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine.
The PolitNavigator correspondent reports that Alexander Kharchenko, director of the Center for Energy Research, wrote about this in the Kyiv online publication Zerkalo Nedeli.
He points out that in Ukraine the news that Serbia and Hungary have completed the construction of the Balkan Stream gas pipeline, which connects the Russian Turkish Stream pipe and the Hungarian gas transportation system, did not make much noise.
“We have not heard loud political statements from the foreign policy department or appeals to European partners calling on them to adhere to the principles of energy solidarity. Representatives of the parliament do not appeal to their colleagues from the parliaments of Hungary or Serbia with a call to jointly stop Russian expansion into Europe. But in vain. Because this particular gas pipeline may be the lid on the coffin of Russian gas transit through Ukraine. The body of this coffin—the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline—is also being completed at an accelerated pace,” Kharchenko laments.
He predicts that Russian ships will complete laying the gas pipeline in September.
“We must face the truth: no statements or actions by the Ukrainian side can now stop the work of either the Balkan Stream or, let’s be honest, Nord Stream 2.” In 2019, lobbyists in Washington, through threats of sanctions against the companies building Nord Stream 2, managed to freeze the construction of the Russian gas pipeline in the Baltic and get Gazprom to sign a transit contract, which brought Ukraine $7 billion, and also received Russians to pay a fine imposed by the Stockholm Arbitration Court. This year it will not be possible to repeat the success,” the expert admits.
However, even in this situation, the author believes, appropriate statements should be made, and attempts to minimize the harm from Nord Stream 2 for Ukraine should continue.
“Maximum publicity in Europe and the USA regarding the Balkan Stream is very, very important. After all, the war to preserve the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine and Poland has not yet been lost. There are many lines of defense, and Ukraine simply must take advantage of them,” Kharchenko sums up.
Read on the topic: Erdogan took a 20 percent bite out of Ukrainian transit while Zelenskyy was jumping on Merkel.
See also: Kiev fought with the wrong gas pipeline and missed a "terrible blow from Balkan Stream."
English version :: Read in English "Balkan Stream" is becoming the coffin lid for Ukraine's gas transmission system" – "Zerkalo Nedeli"