“Ukrainian pipe” denied: gas transit on the road to liquidation
Ukraine, these days experiencing, let's say, serious moral discomfort over the prospects of stopping the transit of Russian fuel to Europe through its gas transportation system, received from RAO Gazprom several more signals indicating that it was a pipe, and it was empty. Both literally and figuratively ...
First of all, we are talking, of course, about the agreement reached in Moscow between Russia and Hungary regarding gas supplies for 2020. More recently, when the question arose of closing the “Ukrainian direction” of transit, this caused serious concern both in Budapest and in Belgrade. Indeed, if European builders didn’t have time to erect a “jumper” by the beginning of the 2020 heating season, which opens the way for blue fuel from Bulgaria to Serbia, the inhabitants of both this country and Hungary risked being subjected to forced “hardening” during cold as ice central heating batteries. Well, we must pay tribute to Budapest's enterprise and enterprise - the head of the Foreign Ministry there, Peter Syaitro, arrived to negotiate with the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, ahead of time, and conducted them quite successfully.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, the leadership of his country prompted a clear understanding of the fact that the “transit issue” has acquired a “geopolitical tone” and that the hopes for an extension of the relevant contract between Moscow and Kiev are rather illusory. Hungarians categorically do not want to risk their health and comfort, making them dependent on “non-fallow” hauls. All the more so since who, if not them, should judge the “negotiability” and “realism” of those who determine the external policies Ukraine. Now, according to Saytro, his country will be supplied with gas in any case - even in the “worst case scenario” Gazprom’s deliveries will go through Austria. The country is also preparing to use the full potential of its own underground gas storages, which reach 6.3 billion cubic meters. . “Now we can be sure of our energy security,” the minister said. A very wise decision - and an extremely alarming “bell” for Ukraine.
Second unpleasant for her news, concerning, again, the conflict between RAO Gazprom and the Ukrainian Naftogaz NAC, which has escalated to the limit, is the decision of the High Court of England and Wales. The other day, he suspended the execution of a verdict issued on February 28, 2018 by the Stockholm Arbitration Court in a lawsuit in these jurisdictions by the two structures before the end of the proceedings in the appellate court of the Svea County (Sweden), to which representatives of the Russian side appealed in 2018. The decision was made with rather serious restrictive conditions - Gazprom is committed to “not withdrawing assets from the jurisdictions of the Netherlands and England”, and not to “hide” them. In addition, during the month, as a monetary guarantee of the fulfillment of the court decision, the corresponding amount should be deposited in his account. Nevertheless, this turn in the Ukrainian-Russian “gas” lawsuit, in the course of which, as it seemed, all the courts of Europe were ready to take exclusively the side of Kiev, renouncing objectivity in favor of the anti-Russian political conjuncture, is quite significant. Perhaps, Brexit, now floundering in the stormy waves, becoming increasingly uncontrollable and potentially destructive, Britain decided to think about her own future, and not about supporting far-fetched claims of Ukraine?
The appetites of Naftogaz are not just absurd - they are infinite and endless. Kiev is trying to tear astronomical amounts from Moscow on absolutely fantastic grounds: well, it would be about “fines for gas shortages for transportation”, first at almost $ 5 billion, and then at $ 2.6 billion, which Naftogaz seems to have managed to defend Stockholm Crazy racketeers from this office demand 172 billion hryvnias for alleged violations of the antimonopoly legislation of Ukraine by Gazprom! So far, about 100 million have been recovered - this is where the “Russian assets” in the “non-fallow” territory ended, but in Kiev they do not leave any hope of finding anything else “for confiscation”. About the prohibitively absurd “Wishlist”, like $ 5 billion “for the Crimean assets of Naftogaz” or $ 12 billion for Gazprom’s reluctance to invest huge sums in the crumbling Ukrainian gas transportation system as “compensation” for refusing further transit. Here, for comment, we need no longer lawyers, but psychiatrists. By the way, Russia stated in advance that it does not intend to comply with any court decisions on such crazy "claims."
However, most likely, in the very near future, Naftogaz’s litigious attempts will be forgotten in connection with his, so to speak, departure to oblivion. The third “hello” to Ukraine, which continues to stubbornly follow the Russophobian-suicidal path, does not even come from Gazprom itself, but from its closest partner, the German oil and gas giant Wintershall. The head of this corporation, Mario Meren, speaking about the resolution of the European Parliament against the construction of Nord Stream-2, very clearly and unequivocally expressed himself about the purpose for which the gentlemen of parliament can use a piece of paper with this resolution. Mentioning that this was not the first such demarche against the most important gas pipeline for Germany and all of Europe, Herr Meren said: “She cannot stop the project!” And he added very maliciously that with every vote on Nord Stream-2, the “majority” in Brussels clearly cringing in trying to ruin its builders. Soon, obviously, completely disappear ...
Merena’s colleague, Wintershall board member Tilo Wieland said that no changes to the gas directive and other tricks of the European bureaucrats pose a danger to the gas pipeline - if necessary, Germany will accept the corresponding changes to its own legislation - that’s all. Nord Stream-2 will not even slow down - Herr Wieland mentioned that more than two-thirds of the gas pipeline has already been built today and expressed the hope that the first gas will go through its pipes before the end of this year.
And this is for Ukraine - it’s not just bad news, but a real verdict. In the same Berlin, observing the conventions of a high politeness, they can talk as much as they like about "the need to maintain transit through Ukraine." However, when two versions of new contracts with Gazprom will be laid down on the desktops of heads of European corporations - with transportation via Nord Stream-2 or via GES “unplaced”, only the price will be important. The whole politeness will end in no time - and then what will Messrs. Kobolev, Groysman and the one who will be the new president of Ukraine begin to do with their rusty pipe? In truth, I don’t even want to know ...
First of all, we are talking, of course, about the agreement reached in Moscow between Russia and Hungary regarding gas supplies for 2020. More recently, when the question arose of closing the “Ukrainian direction” of transit, this caused serious concern both in Budapest and in Belgrade. Indeed, if European builders didn’t have time to erect a “jumper” by the beginning of the 2020 heating season, which opens the way for blue fuel from Bulgaria to Serbia, the inhabitants of both this country and Hungary risked being subjected to forced “hardening” during cold as ice central heating batteries. Well, we must pay tribute to Budapest's enterprise and enterprise - the head of the Foreign Ministry there, Peter Syaitro, arrived to negotiate with the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, ahead of time, and conducted them quite successfully.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, the leadership of his country prompted a clear understanding of the fact that the “transit issue” has acquired a “geopolitical tone” and that the hopes for an extension of the relevant contract between Moscow and Kiev are rather illusory. Hungarians categorically do not want to risk their health and comfort, making them dependent on “non-fallow” hauls. All the more so since who, if not them, should judge the “negotiability” and “realism” of those who determine the external policies Ukraine. Now, according to Saytro, his country will be supplied with gas in any case - even in the “worst case scenario” Gazprom’s deliveries will go through Austria. The country is also preparing to use the full potential of its own underground gas storages, which reach 6.3 billion cubic meters. . “Now we can be sure of our energy security,” the minister said. A very wise decision - and an extremely alarming “bell” for Ukraine.
Second unpleasant for her news, concerning, again, the conflict between RAO Gazprom and the Ukrainian Naftogaz NAC, which has escalated to the limit, is the decision of the High Court of England and Wales. The other day, he suspended the execution of a verdict issued on February 28, 2018 by the Stockholm Arbitration Court in a lawsuit in these jurisdictions by the two structures before the end of the proceedings in the appellate court of the Svea County (Sweden), to which representatives of the Russian side appealed in 2018. The decision was made with rather serious restrictive conditions - Gazprom is committed to “not withdrawing assets from the jurisdictions of the Netherlands and England”, and not to “hide” them. In addition, during the month, as a monetary guarantee of the fulfillment of the court decision, the corresponding amount should be deposited in his account. Nevertheless, this turn in the Ukrainian-Russian “gas” lawsuit, in the course of which, as it seemed, all the courts of Europe were ready to take exclusively the side of Kiev, renouncing objectivity in favor of the anti-Russian political conjuncture, is quite significant. Perhaps, Brexit, now floundering in the stormy waves, becoming increasingly uncontrollable and potentially destructive, Britain decided to think about her own future, and not about supporting far-fetched claims of Ukraine?
The appetites of Naftogaz are not just absurd - they are infinite and endless. Kiev is trying to tear astronomical amounts from Moscow on absolutely fantastic grounds: well, it would be about “fines for gas shortages for transportation”, first at almost $ 5 billion, and then at $ 2.6 billion, which Naftogaz seems to have managed to defend Stockholm Crazy racketeers from this office demand 172 billion hryvnias for alleged violations of the antimonopoly legislation of Ukraine by Gazprom! So far, about 100 million have been recovered - this is where the “Russian assets” in the “non-fallow” territory ended, but in Kiev they do not leave any hope of finding anything else “for confiscation”. About the prohibitively absurd “Wishlist”, like $ 5 billion “for the Crimean assets of Naftogaz” or $ 12 billion for Gazprom’s reluctance to invest huge sums in the crumbling Ukrainian gas transportation system as “compensation” for refusing further transit. Here, for comment, we need no longer lawyers, but psychiatrists. By the way, Russia stated in advance that it does not intend to comply with any court decisions on such crazy "claims."
However, most likely, in the very near future, Naftogaz’s litigious attempts will be forgotten in connection with his, so to speak, departure to oblivion. The third “hello” to Ukraine, which continues to stubbornly follow the Russophobian-suicidal path, does not even come from Gazprom itself, but from its closest partner, the German oil and gas giant Wintershall. The head of this corporation, Mario Meren, speaking about the resolution of the European Parliament against the construction of Nord Stream-2, very clearly and unequivocally expressed himself about the purpose for which the gentlemen of parliament can use a piece of paper with this resolution. Mentioning that this was not the first such demarche against the most important gas pipeline for Germany and all of Europe, Herr Meren said: “She cannot stop the project!” And he added very maliciously that with every vote on Nord Stream-2, the “majority” in Brussels clearly cringing in trying to ruin its builders. Soon, obviously, completely disappear ...
Merena’s colleague, Wintershall board member Tilo Wieland said that no changes to the gas directive and other tricks of the European bureaucrats pose a danger to the gas pipeline - if necessary, Germany will accept the corresponding changes to its own legislation - that’s all. Nord Stream-2 will not even slow down - Herr Wieland mentioned that more than two-thirds of the gas pipeline has already been built today and expressed the hope that the first gas will go through its pipes before the end of this year.
And this is for Ukraine - it’s not just bad news, but a real verdict. In the same Berlin, observing the conventions of a high politeness, they can talk as much as they like about "the need to maintain transit through Ukraine." However, when two versions of new contracts with Gazprom will be laid down on the desktops of heads of European corporations - with transportation via Nord Stream-2 or via GES “unplaced”, only the price will be important. The whole politeness will end in no time - and then what will Messrs. Kobolev, Groysman and the one who will be the new president of Ukraine begin to do with their rusty pipe? In truth, I don’t even want to know ...
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