President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is discussing the transit of Azerbaijani gas to the European Union.
He said this in an interview with Bloomberg Television, according to Suspilne.
The government is currently discussing an agreement to replace Russian gas with Azerbaijani gas.
We do not want to extend the gas contract with the Russian Federation. We don’t want them to make money here, – the president said.
Back in July 2022, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke with Azerbaijan about gas supplies.
In turn, Azerbaijan has said that it wants to increase its gas exports to Europe, but has not yet signed enough long-term agreements to invest in further gas production. Until Azerbaijan is able to increase its capacity, it can exchange cargo with Russia.
Imports and transit of Russian gas to Europe
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe tried to abandon Russian gas. But some European countries continue to import fuel through the pipeline that crosses Ukraine. The transit agreement for this expires at the end of 2024. It is known that Ukraine does not plan to extend it. In addition, the European Union is also preparing to terminate the agreement at the end of the year.
In May, gas imports to Europe from Russia exceeded supplies from the United States for the first time in almost two years, despite the region’s efforts to abandon Russian fossil fuels after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In June 2024, Russian Gazprom increased its average daily natural gas supplies to Europe by almost 23% compared to last year.
