**Ukraine Stops Russian Gas Transit**
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski is pleased with Ukraine’s decision to stop transporting Russian gas through its territory. This change will take effect on January 1, 2025.
In a post on X, Sikorski said this was another victory for Ukraine after NATO expanded to include Finland and Sweden. He also mentioned that Russia spent billions of dollars building the Nordstream pipeline to avoid using Ukraine’s transit system and to threaten Eastern Europe with gas shortages.
**What Happens Next**
Because of this change, Russia is expected to lose around $6 billion in gas payments. Ukraine will lose about $800 million in fees it earns from transporting Russian gas through its territory.
Russia built the Nordstream pipeline to send gas directly to Europe without using Ukraine’s transit system. But now that Ukraine has stopped this service, Russia can no longer do so easily.
**Some European Countries Are Affected**
Several EU countries will be affected by this change. Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico is not happy about it and threatened to stop importing electricity from Ukraine in retaliation. However, the Ukrainian government thinks this would break EU rules and won’t happen.
Ukraine decided not to extend its gas transit contract with Russia’s Gazprom when it expired on January 1, 2025. Some European leaders who are friendly to Russia tried to persuade Ukraine to continue the deal but failed.
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