Gazprom stopped the transit of gas to Hungary through Ukraine

The Russian gas company Gazprom stopped transporting gas to Hungary via Ukraine and diverted it through pipelines along the Black Sea floor and through the Balkans. This angers Kiev, which thus loses a significant portion of revenue from transit. "Hungary has been receiving gas through Ukraine for decades and the Ukrainian side has not breached its obligations," Serhiy Makohon, director of the Ukrainian gas transmission company, said on Friday, saying the Ukrainian route was more cost-effective. However, a new gas supply contract between Russian and Hungarian companies came into force on Friday. Under the agreement, 4.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas will flow from Russia over the next 15 years on the so-called Southern route, following the Black Sea Day through Turkey, Bulgaria and Serbia to Hungary. Ukraine is increasingly losing its position as the main transit country for Russian natural gas to European Union countries for new pipelines across the Black and Baltic Seas. He thus loses billions in fee income, which led Kiev to accuse Moscow of intentionally using natural gas as a weapon. The Kremlin refuses. Since the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian Black Sea Peninsula of Crimea in 2014, relations between the two former Soviet republics have deteriorated. Russia continues to honor its existing commitments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency, in response to a question from journalists whether the circumvention of Ukraine was a breach of existing contractual obligations. Gas prices have been breaking records on energy exchanges around the world for several weeks now. Experts consider the main cause to be the increased demand for liquefied gas in China and also in Brazil. Critics of the new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany also accuse Gazprom of trying to speed up the ongoing approval process by deliberately raising gas prices. However, the Russian energy giant denies such allegations, claiming that the reason for the increase is its own tense supplies.