The European Commission played down the impact of a halt of Russian gas exports to Europe via Ukraine on Wednesday, saying the stop on Jan. 1 had been expected and that the bloc was prepared for it.
"The European gas infrastructure is flexible enough to provide gas of non-Russian origin to CEE (central and eastern Europe) via alternative routes," a spokesperson for the European Commission said.
"It has been reinforced with significant new LNG import capacities since 2022."
Russian natural gas exports via Soviet-era pipelines running through Ukraine to Europe were halted in the early hours of New Year's Day as a transit deal expired and warring Moscow and Kyiv have failed to reach an agreement to continue the flows.
The shutdown of Russia's oldest gas route to Europe ends a decade of fraught relations sparked by Russia's seizure of Crimea in 2014. Ukraine stopped buying Russian gas the following year.
"We stopped the transit of Russian gas. This is a historic event. Russia is losing its markets, it will suffer financial losses. Europe has already made the decision to abandon Russian gas," Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko said in a statement.
The stoppage of gas flows was expected amid the war, which started in February 2022. Ukraine has been adamant it would not extend the deal amid the military conflict.
