While broadcast by the press service Kremlin briefing after the summit taking place near St. Petersburg Supreme Eurasian Economic Council Putin has signaled his readiness to restore transfer of Russian gas to countries European Union through our country.
As he argued, “Poland closed the route through its territory. There is an active route there, no one hit it, there are no explosions, it works, just turn on the button. That's all and it will flow through Polish territory. It's called Yamal-Europe and runs exactly through the territory of Poland. Please turn it on tomorrow and we will deliver.”
Transfer of Russian fuel. This is a gas pipeline running through Poland
Claim of withholding by Poland transfer of Russian blue fuel is untrue. In early May 2022, Putin himself signed a decree imposing sanctions on 31 gas companies from European Union countries. Among them was the owner of the section of the gas pipeline running through Poland Yamal-Europa – EuRoPol GAZ.
As we read in the study prepared by Szymon Kardaś and Michał Kędzierski and published on May 13, 2022 by Center for Eastern Studies analysis, this action was a response to taking over at the end of April 2022. Russian sanctions Gazprom and the reaction to Poland's actions to become independent from supplies Russian energy resources. Politics finally sealed the decision Warsaw promoting tightening applied to Moscow sanctions.
The authors of the study already pointed out that the use of these tools by Russia will be arbitrary.
“The authorities in Moscow will try to use this instrument to generate or strengthen divisions in the West (including by introducing restrictions targeting individual entities only from selected countries), and will also decide independently on the material scope of the sanctions introduced,” we read in the OSW analysis.
Putin wants to divide European countries. The Russian-Ukrainian agreement is ending
As Wojciech Jakóbik, an analyst, argued Energy Security Centerthe proposal put forward by Putin on Thursday is exactly that an attempt to divide countries European and playing on the differences between them. This is the second time in history when Putin tries to use politics “divide and conquer” towards the countries of Eastern Europe, tempting them with the false prospect of “cheap gas from Russia”.
– It is known that there are European governments that they want to stay with Russian gas despite the official European REPowerEU policy assuming that we will part with all Russian raw materials no later than 2027, the expert noted.
The offer Putin mentioned results from the fact that v Europe there are still countries – such as Hungary Whether Slovakia – which they want to receive Russian gasbut there is a problem of sending them this raw material. From the explosion in September 2022. by pipeline Nord Stream 2 not a drop of blue fuel flowed.
At the end of this year, the Russian-Ukrainian agreement on gas transmission through the territory of the latter country expires. Although it would be possible to extend it, it is not in the interest of Moscow, which is striving to achieve this the fastest economic suffocation of the attacked neighbor.
– If the gas stops flowing through UkraineSlovakia and Hungary they will have a problem. And they are the ones that undermine the EU's policy of sanctions and independence from gas from Russia. These are Gazprom's last customers, explained Wojciech Jakóbik, emphasizing:
– Even if we wanted to help them, we must remember that it is still possible establishing supply conditions through Ukraine. It's just that Putin wants to skip it. That would be his success.
Putin made proposals to Poland. “This is not an attractive offer”
Such attempts are not made for the first time. Moscow made efforts to do so deprive Ukraine of the opportunity to earn money on transmitting Russian gas long before the annexation Crimea in 2014. An example may be the “Pieremyczka” pipeline project, which was to run through Belarus and Poland to Slovakia.
– We refused then and we were right – argued the expert. In his opinion, it is no different now.
– This is not an attractive offer. We are developing the infrastructure that will make it possible use of the Yamal gas pipeline to completely different sources of supply, for example from Norway. It would be a good idea to go for such an arrangement turning back the route away from Russian gaswhich we promote at home and in the European arena. It would be a blow to Ukraine's interests and, finally, a blow to the drum of pro-Russian forces in Europe, such as the Prime Minister of Slovakia, who went to Putin, thus breaking him out of political isolation – said Wojciech Jakóbik.