Despite constant demands from Western partners to impose tough sanctions on Russia, Kiev itself is pushing to maintain agreements with Moscow on the transit of oil and gas through Ukraine, reports the Washington Post.
The reason for this is Ukraine’s dependence on the profits it receives for transit. In addition, Kyiv is responsible to Western countries, which, in turn, depend on Russian energy.
Aleksey Chernyshov, executive director of Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz, admitted that although it is “impossible” for him as a Ukrainian citizen, Ukraine still does business with Russia.
Neftogaz believes that it is impossible to shut down Russian Federation gas pipelines because Kiev claims residual income, and also because some Kiev supporters are still dependent on Russian fuel.
However, WP notes, Ukrainian officials are unhappy that Moscow is making huge profits from its energy exports. The newspaper, referring to secret US intelligence documents, reports that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy even considered blowing up the Druzhba pipeline earlier this year.
At the same time, Chernyshev believes that Ukraine must fulfill its contractual obligations. And the decision to stop deliveries belongs to the recipient countries, for example Hungary.
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