Kyiv, February 19, 2015 – Ukraine will not pay from its budget for the Russian gas that goes straight to the temporarily occupied territories. Gazprom intends to deliver natural gas to “Prokhorovka” and “Platovo” gas points held by Russian-baked proxies. Andriy Kobolev, Chief Executive Office of state gas firm Naftogaz, told this during the press-briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
Mr. Kobolev commented the announcement of Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev that Russian gas should be considered as another type of the “humanitarian aid” to the resident of Donbas. Yet the Andriy Kobolev expressed his surprise as Ukraine delivered natural gas to these territories throughout the entire winter period. “It seems that Russia pursues a rather different goal, considering how systematically the pro-Russian militants were destroying the gas-transport infrastructure of the region,” Mr. Kobolev said. Ukraine steadily shifts away from the Russian orbit by reducing its gas imports from Russia and increasing the share of reverse gas deliveries from the European Union. According to the Naftogaz chief, the Russian government and Gazprom are seeking to preserve economic leverage over the Ukrainian economy.
Mr. Kobolev also explained why direct gas deliveries to the occupied territories are impossible. “The contract between Naftogaz of Ukraine and Gazprom defines clear procesures of gas transfer on the border. There is not a single representative of Naftogaz and UkrTransGaz who could measure the amount of gas delivered,” he said.
Andriy Kobolev noted that the Ukrainian authorities put all their efforts to recover sufficient gas supplies to the cities in eastern Ukraine.
The Government of Ukraine presented Kremlin’s Black Book with consolidated information about infrastructure damage as a result of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Thus Russian regulars and their proxies ruined 3,011 gas pipelines by February 2015.