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A fireplace and pipes at the Fotav Zrt energy plant BKM non -profit in Budapest, Hungary, on Thursday, January 2, 2025.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty images
The closest allies in Ukraine have warned against the European Union reopening Russian gas pipes as part of a possible peace agreement, with a Baltic Nation that describes the perspective as “it is not a good solution in any way.”
Comes shortly after Financial Times reported that EU officials were considering whether to restore Russian gas flows to Europe as part of a settlement to end the Kremlin’s for a long time Ukraine War.
The report, which was published on January 30 and cited unidentified sources familiar with discussions, said the idea had been supported by some EU officials as a way to reduce regional energy costs.
Estonia, a NATO The member who shares a 294 kilometers border (183 miles) with Russia is among those who ask for the block of 27 nations that would not reopen the Russian gas pipes.
Eastern European country said the EU should not afford to depend on Russian energy as part of a Ukraine peace settlement, noting that restoring gas flows would be inconsistent with the block goal to eliminate Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027.
“We have seen in the story that Russia has used energy as a weapon. Russia has repeatedly demonstrated this, so it is not a good solution in any way”, Kadri Elias-Hindalala, director of the Sanctions of Foreign Affairs of Estonia and Strategic Property department, he told CNBC per video call.
In this photograph of the pool, distributed by the agency itself Russian Sputnik, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, presides over a meeting on the situation in the Kursk region, at his residence in Novo-Aagatovo outside Moscow, 12 August 2024.
Gavri Grigorov | AFP | Getty images
Europe should have learned its lesson when Russian forces Georgia invaded in 2008ELIAS-HINDOALLA DE ESTONIA said, he added that the Ukraine War has reaffirmed the importance of finding alternative suppliers and improving the energy independence of the block.
“Our position is very clear: we must maximize sanctions and limit Russian energy imports as much as possible,” said Elias-Hindalla.
The Foreign Ministries of Russia and Ukraine did not respond when CNBC contacted him to comment.
For its part, the European Commission saying “It is not making any link” between the reopening of Russian gas and the peace conversations of Ukraine. The European Commission is the EU executive arm.
“Every time we have such conversations, when that moment comes, it will be with Ukraine and we do not confirm any link reported in the article … about any link between the gas traffic through Ukraine and any peace conversation,” said the spokeswoman From the EU, Paula Pinho, at a press conference on Thursday.
The EU plan said Pinho, remains to adhere to the gradual elimination of the elimination of Russian gas. The block adopted A 15th package of sanctions against Russia at the end of last year, seeking to further weaken the military and industrial capabilities of Russia.
‘One of the worst ideas in the history of the world’
Lithuania, which was occupied by the Soviet Union until 1990, has said that ensuring the end of the fighting in Ukraine must take place with the total participation of kyiv.
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stressed this message in an interview with The Association press Earlier this month, warning that it would be “very dangerous” to exclude kyiv from the conversations between the United States and Russia on how to end the invasion.
Speaking during a virtual appearance in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, said on January 23 that he I would like to meet With Russian President Vladimir Putin “soon” to find a way to end the Ukraine War.
The former Foreign Minister of Lithuania, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said that the perspective of peace through the dependence of Russian gas was “demonstrably one of the worst ideas in the history of the world.”
“The suggestion of restoring this disastrous policy is nothing more than spitting in the tombs of its innocent victims,” Landsbergis saying In the publication of social networks on January 30.
Even in the case of an end of the Ukraine War, the president of Lithuania, Gypsy Nausėda, Ha warned that the geographical position of your country could make it vulnerable to a broader conflict. The country of 2.8 million border with the Kalinningrada de Russia excave to the West and the ally of Moscow of Belarus to the east.
Gas supply change in Europe
Russian gas exports to Europe through Ukraine He stopped In early 2025, marking the end of Moscow’s domain over the energy markets of the region.
Zelenskyy of Ukraine said at that time that the end of Russian gas traffic through his country to Europe represented “one of Moscow’s greatest defeats” and asked the United States to supply more gas to the region.
Russia, meanwhile, warned that EU countries would probably suffer more from supply change. Moscow can still send gas through the Turkstream pipe, which links Russia with Hungary, Serbia and Türkiye.
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, pronounces a speech during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on January 21, 2025.
Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty images
Poland, a firm ally of Ukraine and another European country that shares a border with the Kalinningrad de Russia, has also urged EU countries not to reopen Russian gas flows.
“I can only expect European leaders to learn lessons from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and promote the decision to never restore gas pumping through this pipe”, the Polish president Andrzej Doubt saying In an interview with the BBC last month.
His comments referred to the Nord Stream 1 gas pipe, which connects Russia and northern Germany through the Baltic Sea.
