MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Monday the situation with European countries buying its gas through a transit deal through Ukraine is very complicated and needs more attention, a day after talks between President Vladimir Putin and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Ukraine has said it will not renew a five-year deal to transit Russian gas to Europe, which expires at the end of this year, because it does not want to support Moscow’s military efforts.
This flow accounts for around half of Russia’s total pipeline gas exports to Europe, with Slovakia, Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic likely to be hardest hit if it ends.
Kremlin-controlled Gazprom (MCX:) also exports gas to Europe through the TurkStream pipeline at the bottom of the Black Sea.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he could not provide more details about Sunday’s talks between Putin and Fico, which also covered bilateral ties and the conflict in Ukraine.
Fico said Putin confirmed Russia’s willingness to continue supplying gas to Slovakia, although this was “practically impossible” once the transit deal with Ukraine expires.
It was not clear what possible solution the two leaders might have discussed.
Slovakia has said the loss of supplies from the east will not hit consumption and has diversified supply contracts. However, it would increase costs and the country tried to keep the Ukrainian route to preserve its own transit capacity.
Slovakia’s main gas buyer, SPP, has contracts to purchase gas from a non-Russian source with BP (NYSE:), ExxonMobil (NYSE:), Shell (LON:), Eni and RWE (LON:).
The benchmark front-month contract on the Dutch TTF gas hub rose 1.52 euros to 45.33 euros per megawatt hour (euro/MWh) by 1443 GMT, LSEG data showed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday criticized Fico’s lack of desire to end his country’s dependence on Russian natural resources as a “major security problem” for Europe and Slovakia.
Hungary is also keen to keep the Ukrainian route, although it will continue to receive Russian gas from the south via the TurkStream pipeline.
Zelenskiy said last week that it could be possible to extend the transit deal, but only if Russia were not paid for the gas until after the war, a condition Moscow is unlikely to accept.
“You heard the statement from the Ukrainian side, and you know the positions of the European countries that continue to buy Russian gas and consider it necessary for the normal functioning of their economies,” Peskov told reporters.
“Therefore, now there is a very complicated situation that requires more attention,” Peskov added.
Putin said last week that it was clear that there would be no new deal with Kiev to send Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine.
