Ukraine will be fine and authorities will find a way out of the situation if Russian gas export giant Gazprom stops gas transits via Ukraine, the country’s prime minister said on Thursday.
“Ukraine will find a way out of this situation. Don’t worry about that,” Mykola Azarov told reporters.
Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said on Wednesday that Kiev will have “zero role” to play in Russian gas exports after the completion of two pipelines bypassing Ukraine, South Stream and Nord Stream.
Azarov said that a lot of time would pass between when the statements were made by Gazprom and the completion of the pipelines.
“You [Russia] can use our joint gas transportation system but if you wish to waste 20 billion euros, God bless,” the prime minister said.
Gazprom accused Ukraine on Wednesday of illegally siphoning off up to 40 million cubic meters of Russian natural gas in February for Europe but Ukraine’s energy company Naftogaz denied the accusations.
