The Russian side denies the grounds for declaring force majeure in the transit of gas by the GTS operator of Ukraine in respect of part of the transit capacity.
The Russian company also rejects as technically impossible the idea of transferring volumes to another route, Interfax reported.
Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said: “Gazprom today received an official notification from the Operator of the Gas Transmission System of Ukraine that the Ukrainian side, citing force majeure, has stopped accepting gas for transit through the Ukrainian GIS Sohranovka. The GTSU operator proposes that all transit volumes be transferred to the Suja GIS.
As early as March 9, Pavel Sorokin, the first deputy minister of energy of the Russian Federation, noted that the compressor station in Novopskov was under the control of the Russian armed forces. Recently, the acceptance of gas for transit has continued in the same volume without any questions.
Kupriyanov added that “at the same time a notification was received from NJSC” Naftogaz of Ukraine “that if the gas continues to be supplied by Russia to GIS Sokhranivka, the volumes at the exit points of the GTS of Ukraine will be reduced accordingly.”
In this regard, Gazprom declares that it has not received any confirmation of the circumstances of force majeure, and sees no obstacles to continuing work in the previous regime, Ukrainian specialists have worked quietly all this time on GIS “Sohranovka” and “Novopskov” CS “and continue to do so, transit through Sohranovka was fully secured and there were no complaints from contractors,” said a spokesman for the Russian company.
“Gazprom is fully fulfilling all its obligations to European consumers, supplying transit gas following the contract and the agreement with the operator, transit services are paid in full,” he said. , the distribution of volumes is clearly stated in the cooperation agreement of December 30, 2019, and the Ukrainian side is aware of this, “Kupriyanov said.
We remind you that earlier today it became clear that Ukraine is suspending the transit of gas to Europe through the lost territories of the Luhansk region.
The operator notes that “the Novopskov compressor station is the first of the compressor stations of the Ukrainian GTS in the Luhansk region, through which passes almost a third of the gas (up to 32.6 million cubic meters per day) from Russia to Europe. The company added that” to fully fulfill its transit obligations to its European partners, it is possible to temporarily transfer inaccessible capacity from the physical point of the Sohranivka connection to the physical point of the Suja connection, which is located in the territory controlled by Ukraine.
The company added that at the moment its employees cannot “exercise operational and technological control over the Novopskov CS and other assets located in these territories.”
It is not yet clear from this announcement whether gas supplies to Europe will be reduced by a third. Russia has said that the demand for gas from Europe has been increasing recently.
However, European countries are waiting for May 20, when most deadlines for paying for gas in rubles expire and when Russia can stop almost all gas exports to the EU, except Hungary, which has agreed to pay under the new scheme in rubles.
Russian governors resign unexpectedly
Russia has been hit by an unexpected wave of resignations from regional governors.
Within five hours, five governors of regions in different parts of the country announced their resignation or would not run for re-election.
The first to resign was Sergei Shvachkin of the Tomsk region and Igor Vassiliev of the Kirov region. They were followed by the leaders of the Saratov region and the Republic of Mari El. The governor of the Ryazan region, Nikolay Lyubimov, has announced that he will not run for a second term.
Official reasons given for the resignations of the governors include their advanced age or the fact that they have held office for a long time.
The Russian Federation has over 80 entities, including territories, autonomous regions, republics, and regions.
The resignations of the governors caused astonishment in many citizens and led to speculation. Some Telegram users wondered if they had decided they could not continue to support the war in Ukraine and its economic consequences for the Russian provinces.
Many companies have withdrawn from Russia due to Western sanctions, which have led to many people losing their jobs.
In the current situation, the resignations could be a sign that the ship is sinking and “the rats prefer to leave it,” said political scientist Abbas Galyamov. Others have suggested that the five politicians may not have been loyal enough to the Kremlin and may have been forced to resign.
