Russia Calls on Europe for Intervention; Gazprom Negotiates with Hungary
Russia called on European authorities to come up with a proposal to stabilise the Ukrainian economy and to ensure stable transit of Russian gas, while Ukrtransgaz is stepping up its efforts to avoid further disruptions in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.
"Over the past few days, cases of interference have been documented in western Ukraine’s pipelines. Interferences were localized and did not affect the gas supply and transportation of natural gas according to existing contracts,” Igor Lohman, Chairman of Ukrtansgaz, said in a note released on Thursday.
As written on Monday, Ukrtransgaz reported leaks in Urengoy-Uzhgorod-Pomary Pipeline, claiming that the damage had to do with ‘unauthorized people.’
The Kremlin said that it is open to discuss how to decrease further risks of gas disruptions.
“The Russian Federation is still open to continue consultations and work together with European countries in order to normalise the situation. We also hope that the European Commission will more actively engage in the dialogue in order to work out specific and fair solutions that will help stabilise the Ukrainian economy,” Russian President Vladimir Putin commented in a communiqué released on Thursday.
But Moscow is not wasting time to find alternatives. Other than holding negotiations with Chinese authorities, Russians are not giving up their European campaign.
On Wednesday, Gazprom’s Alexey Miller met Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary.
‘Considering the plans of constructing a South Stream section in Austria, the joint decision was made to additionally investigate the new route of the Hungarian section towards Austria,’ reads a Gazprom’s press release, clearly indicating that the pipeline could soon change route.
On April 29, Gazprom and OMV signed a Memorandum of Intent to implement the South Stream project in Austria.
‘The Memorandum reflects the parties' intentions to construct the Austrian section of the South Stream gas pipeline with the throughput capacity of up to 32 billion cubic meters a year and the end point in Baumgarten,’ reads the note.