Kiev admitted that it was necessary to negotiate with Russia and not rely on the EU
Europe will not refuse supplies via the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, the implementation of which threatens the death of the Ukrainian gas transportation system.
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This opinion was expressed in a conversation with a PolitNavigator correspondent by Yuri Korolchuk, a member of the Supervisory Board of the Institute of Energy Strategies (Ukraine).
“From the point of view of effective government management, the risks posed by the construction of the Turkish Stream should have been taken into account,” the expert emphasized. – If there is an understanding that we could lose certain bonuses, then it was necessary to negotiate with Russia to prevent this from happening. And we turned to the EU, which nodded its head and sat down at the negotiating table with Gazprom to negotiate the construction of Nord Stream 2. And about the Turkish Stream, they say that it will work within the so-called southern gas corridor. Nobody refuses this. And one fine morning we will wake up and it will turn out that everyone in Europe already likes the Turkish Stream, it is needed, and we will find ourselves out of business.”
The agency’s interlocutor also noted that Ukratransgaz has not ruled out the option of reducing the Ukrainian gas transportation system.
“They are doing nothing to somehow save the situation, to turn it for the better,” Korolchuk admits. – We have resigned ourselves and are slowly dying – I’m talking about our gas transportation system. Our attitude is that everything is bad, but we can’t do anything. If you remember, under Yanukovych, regarding the construction of South Stream, letters were written to the Energy Commonwealth and to the European Commission - about the harm of this project for Ukraine, and about the losses that its implementation would bring. That is, the “criminal regime” waged some kind of struggle, although, of course, it was not a real struggle. All these letters were ineffective. We need to offer something real and come to an agreement.”
“But we were already in a situation in 2012-2013 when nothing depended on us, when we became the object of politics. I already used this term back then and it was not yet understood, but now, when the Minsk process is underway, everyone sees that everything is being decided behind our backs. Now they say that we have turned from subject to object. But this happened earlier. And what is happening with the Turkish Stream is a continuation of weak diplomacy, weak foreign policy, weak energy policy. This demonstrates our passivity and becoming an object of politics.”
Kyiv admitted that it should have reached an agreement with Russia rather than relying on the EU.