Expert: Ukraine is on the verge of "gas Armageddon"

Ukraine has approached the very threshold of the "gas Armageddon", that's what political analyst Alexei Yakubin thinks. At a press conference in Kiev, he said that next year gas tariffs for Ukrainians will grow again, and the Kiev authorities have no plans and ideas for overcoming the crisis.

He stressed that with current prices, more than a half of the population gets subsidies, and what will happen after the term of the agreement between the Ukrainian Naftogaz and Russian Gazprom is over is "everyone’s guess."

"To date, about eight million households in Ukraine receive subsidies. This is an absolutely inadequate situation, because eight million households are at least two people in each household. Thus, more than half of the country receives subsidies, and on the eve of the elections this makes people more dependent on the authorities," FAN quotes the expert as saying. 

Yakubin said that if the tariffs are raised, there would be simply no money, adding that, of course, for the 2019 elections, the government in Kiev would find money, after which "everything will come to an end."

"It is unclear what will happen to the transit, and what will be for the population with these enormous subsidies and high gas prices. 2019 is a transitional year for our country, after which Armageddon may come for the gas transportation system," the political analyst predicts.

As EADaily reported earlier, on March 1, the Russian Gazprom announced termination of supplies for the Ukrainian Naftogaz. The deputy chairman of the Russian enterprise board, Alexander Medvedev, said that the Russian company had returned to Kiev an advance payment for gas supplies in March of this year, because of an uncoordinated supplementary agreement to the contract.