Poroshenko Called for Sanctions in Response to Agreement with Gazprom

The contracts with Gazprom on gas supplies to Ukraine are political, not commercial, former President Petro Poroshenko said. His party demands to convene the National Security and Defense Council. Ukraine’s European Solidarity Party is intended to initiate sanctions imposition for direct gas supplies from Russia. “Five Ukrainian companies have concluded agreements on gas supplies from Russia to the Ukrainian market,” the party leader, Ukraine’s ex-President Petro Poroshenko said on Sunday, December 22, referring to Ukrainian and Russian media. Such contracts with Gazprom are political, not commercial, he underlined in an interview to Ukraine TV. Russian President Vladimir Putin “sells gas to the fifth column at a significant discount”, and the proceeds can be used “to undermine the foundations of Ukrainian statehood”, Poroshenko said. It’s about national security, the former head of state said. The ex-President accused the current Ukrainian authorities of crossing the “red lines”. According to him, European Solidarity will require the immediate convening of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine in connection with this situation. As specified in the agreements concluded with the Russian enterprise, gas supplies to the Ukrainian side should begin on January 1, 2020, an online publication LIGA.net reported a day earlier with reference to unnamed source familiar with the situation. The publication did not specify what companies and volumes of gas are meant. Earlier on, Director of the European Energy Community (EC) Secretariat Janez Kopacs said that Ukraine should resume direct supplies of gas, electricity and coal from Russia. He expressed this opinion on December 16 in his report presented in the Verkhovna Rada on Ukraine’s compliance with its obligations to the EC on the European standards implementation. At the same time, he warned of the need for a balanced volume and security of these supplies for domestic Ukrainian producers. On December 20, at the meeting behind closed doors in Belarus, Moscow and Kiev signed a protocol of agreements about continuation of gas transit through Ukraine. The deal covers a five-year period.