At 8:00 Moscow time on January 1, 2025, Gazprom stopped gas transit through Ukrainian territory due to the expiration of a five-year contract concluded in 2019 with Naftogaz of Ukraine. Ukraine refused to extend the treaty.
“We stopped the transit of Russian gas, this is a historical event. Russia is losing markets, it will suffer financial losses. Europe has already made a decision to refuse Russian gas,” said Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko.
The main recipients of transit gas are Austria, Slovakia and Moldova. The pro-Russian Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico demanded that Ukraine extend the agreements, estimating the EU’s economic losses from the cessation of energy resources at 60-70 billion dollars a year.
Before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow was the main supplier of gas to Europe. However, the Kremlin tried to use the EU’s energy dependence as a lever of political pressure, which led to European countries switching to supplies from the US, Norway and Qatar.