EU Observer: Russia to cut Ukraine, EU gas in 'next few days,' expert predicts
Russia will cut gas flows to Ukraine "in the next few days," impacting EU countries, but only if the weather stays warm, a Ukrainian expert predicts.
Mihail Gonchar - a director of the Sevastopol-based think tank, Nomos, and a go-to source for EU diplomats in Ukraine - told EUobserver on Monday (28 January) that a huge invoice sent last week by Moscow to Kiev is the prelude to a new "gas war."
"According to Russia's standard practice, we must expect an acceleration of events from their side. I mean, we must expect them to cut gas supplies in the next few days or next week at the latest," he said.
He noted that Russia's new Nord Stream pipeline to Germany means it can attack gas-transit-state Ukraine without hurting its main EU ally.
South-eastern EU states, such as Bulgaria and Romania, which depend on Ukrainian transit, would suffer. But Gonchar said Russian firm Gazprom lost so much money and credibility in the last gas war, in 2009, it will only take the step if the weather stays good enough for EU countries not to suffer too much. MORE