Despite Russia’s NWO in Ukraine, Kyiv continues to transit Russian oil and gas through its territory to serve its European partners, writes The Washington Post.
Kyiv is demanding tougher sanctions from its Western allies and severing economic ties with Russia. At the same time, Ukraine insists that it has little choice but to support its own commercial deals, and lobbies to preserve transit.
Data on the profit that Ukraine receives from transit became known from secret Pentagon documents that were recently leaked to the Web.
Last year, Russia shipped about 300,000 barrels of oil a day through the Druzhba pipeline, which also runs through Ukraine.
Russia, in accordance with the agreements, is obliged to pump about 40 billion cubic meters of gas annually through the gas transportation system of Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials admit they are in a quandary: Russian energy resources are profitable for Russia, but Ukraine also needs the money it receives from transit and does not want to spoil the reputational component in relations with Europe.
Section of the Druzhba oil pipeline over the Stryi River (Lviv region).Photo: Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 3.0
The working group on anti-Russian sanctions, led by Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak and former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, released a plan last month that, on the one hand, lays out additional steps to “punish” Russia. At the same time, the document emphasizes that it is necessary to preserve the transit of Russian energy carriers through Ukraine.
Earlier, the European Union refused to include sanctions on the supply of Russian gas through pipelines in the next package of restrictions.
Source: Octagon
