"This have led to the invasion of Ukraine" - expert commentary on gas contracts

Ten years ago, in 2009, in the presence of then prime-ministers Yulia Tymoshenko and Vladimir Putin a gas deal was signed. It was about the resumption of gas transportation to Ukraine, which Russia suspended on January 1, 2009. Mykhailo Gonchar, President of the Center for Global Studies "Strategy XXI", spoke on the consequences of this agreement for Ukraine and its intricacies in a comment to the Hronadske radio.

"Of course, the contracts were poor. The contracts were signed in such a way that Gazprom had more opportunities, while Naftogaz, on the contrary, had more obligations. Behind this asymmetry, the far-reaching goal stood that was realized in 2010. It is a question of the Kharkiv Gas Fleet Agreements (an agreement according to which the term of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation in Sevastopol has been extended to 2042)," - said Gonchar . 

According to Gonchar, due to the asymmetry of the rights and obligations of the parties, Gazprom gave an overpriced price to Naftogaz. Secondly, Naftogaz was forced to buy excessive volumes of gas. Third, in essence, without any agreement with Gazprom, no action was taken to reform Naftogaz, the expert said.

According to Gonchar, Ukraine agreed to such conditions, thanks to the preferential price for gas supplied in 2009.

The issue of signing a gas agreement between Ukraine and Russia is being discussed now, This topic is not convinient for some of the participants in the race. In particular, Yulia Tymoshenko.

"After analyzing the content of the contracts, we see that they have created not only colossal problems for Naftogaz, but have become the mechanism of legalized cash out  from the Ukrainian economy. In the end, this led to the invasion of Ukraine. A hybrid war against Ukraine began, to a large extent, on the energy background," - says Gonchar.

Source: Hromadske radio 

 

 

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