You're reading: Yatsenyuk hopes Ukraine won’t be stripped of gas transit possibility

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has expressed hope that Western partners will not allow Ukraine to be stripped of the possibility to transit natural gas to the European Union.

“Nord Stream II is a classical anti-Ukrainian, anti-European project. If Russia, along with certain Western companies, builds Nord Stream II, this will mean that Russia had its way and stripped Ukraine entirely of natural gas transit services to EU member states,” the prime minister said during parliamentary hearings on Sept. 18.

Under a current transit contract, Ukraine’s annual income is $2 billion, he said.

“I am hoping for a very articulate position of our Western partners, primarily, the European Commission and EU members, over prevention of implementation by Russia of a plan to leave Ukraine without its transit potential and to leave Ukraine without billions of dollars,” Yatsenyuk said.

Kyiv has yet to receive real proposals from Western partners regarding a joint upgrade of the Ukrainian gas transit system, he said. In 2014, the Verkhovna Rada approved plans to set up a joint consortium with Western companies to upgrade both the system and storage facilities, Yatsenyuk said.

“At this stage, unfortunately, so far there has been no real offer from our partners on joining the Ukrainian gas transportation system and on modernizing it and jointly operating it,” the Ukrainian prime minister said.