OREANDA-NEWS. Ukraine has accused Gazprom of gas blackmail in Europe due to the refusal of the Russian concern to increase the transit of fuel through Ukrainian pipelines, despite the sharp rise in gas prices in Europe. The head of the company Operator of the GTS of Ukraine Sergey Makogon in a post posted on Facebook on Monday evening, December 20, expressed the opinion that in this way Russia is trying to accelerate the certification of the controversial German-Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream – 2 (SP-2).

«Despite the sky-high gas prices in the EU ($1,800 per thousand cubic meters), the available free transit capacity and despite the statements of the head of the Russian Federation about increasing supplies to the EU, Gazprom has not booked additional capacity for January. Therefore, Gazprom does not plan to increase transit by more than 109 million cubic meters per day, which is provided for by the existing contract. The conclusions are obvious – the blackmail of Europe continues in order to certify the Nord Stream-2 as soon as possible», Makogon wrote.

Gazprom has not commented on these accusations yet. On December 20, it became known that the Russian concern refused to book additional capacities for gas transit through Ukraine in January.

Gazprom has not booked additional gas transit capacities through Ukraine for four months. At the same time, from the beginning of the year to December 15, the company transported 40 billion cubic meters of gas through Ukraine, thereby fulfilling its obligations for 2021 in full.