Ukraine already feels the reduction in gas transit

The restriction on the transit of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine affected the country's budget. Moscow's actions show that it is necessary to take into account in the budget the possibility of reducing transit.

The decline in gas transit is not a surprise. As soon as Russia has the technical capabilities to bypass Ukraine and other transit countries, it will do so. Therefore, it plans to build Nord Stream 2 and Turkish Stream. Both pipelines will allow Russia to completely bypass Ukraine.

The Kremlin did not hide such plans. Already several years ago, the Russian authorities promised that one of their top priorities would be to bypass "unfriendly countries."

Why does Russia want to do this? From an economic point of view, the construction of gas pipelines along the bottom does not make sense. It is actually much more complicated and more expensive than building a gas pipeline overland. While for Moscow, the biggest advantages of this solution can be expressed in the absence of transit fees, and, above all, full control over raw materials.