As the New Year’s bell rings, Europe has officially ended the “Russian gas era.” The Russia-Ukraine natural gas transit agreement was ultimately unable to be renewed and officially expired on December 31, 2024. Gazprom issued a statement on the 1st saying,Due to the expiration of the agreement signed with Ukraine on the transmission of Russian natural gas through Ukraine, the transmission of natural gas through Ukraine to Europe will be terminated from 8 a.m. Moscow time on the 1st. The statement said,As Uzbekistan has repeatedly refused to renew the agreement, Gazprom is legally and technically unable to continue to transport natural gas to Europe through Uzbekistan.

For decades, Russia has been delivering natural gas produced in northern Siberia via Ukraine to Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria and other countries through a cross-border gas pipeline. These countries also rely heavily on Gazprom to meet their demand for natural gas.

Data shows that in 2023, 69% of Slovakia's and 60% of Austria's natural gas imports will come from Russia. Therefore, the “end of the Gazprom era” brings major concerns to these countries.Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico previously stated that the economic impact on the EU will be far greater than the impact on Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously emphasized that it was Ukraine that refused to extend the agreement to deliver natural gas to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria.This move is punishing Europe, where gas prices will rise.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s attitude is also very clear: As long as the war continues and there is no guarantee that the Kremlin will not benefit economically, Ukraine will not allow Russian natural gas to be transported through its borders.

Ukraine also said that Europe has decided to give up Russian natural gas.

"We blocked the shipment of Russian natural gas. This is a historic event. Russia is losing its market and it will suffer economic losses," Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said in a statement.

Little impact?

However, some analysts believe thatThis "gas cut" should not affect prices for EU consumers, unlike in 2022, when falling supplies from Russia drove prices to record highs, exacerbating the cost of living crisis and hitting the EU's competitiveness.

In fact, after Russia stopped supplying natural gas to Austria in November last year, the only EU country that received natural gas via Ukraine was Slovakia, which also earned transit fees by delivering natural gas to Austria, Hungary and Italy.

The latest news shows thatCurrently, Slovakia and Austria have arranged alternative supplies, while Hungary will continue to receive Russian natural gas through the TurkStream pipeline in the Black Sea.

However, it is impossible not to have any impact at all. For example, Transdniestria, a region that broke away from Ukraine's neighboring Moldova, cut off heating and hot water supplies to residents early Wednesday. Local energy company Tirasteploenergo urged residents to dress warmly, hang blankets or thick curtains on windows and balcony doors, and use electric heaters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the interruption of Ukrainian natural gas shipments to Europe was "one of Moscow's biggest failures" and urged the United States to supply more natural gas to Europe.

“The more (energy) products on the market from true European partners, the sooner we can overcome some of the last negative effects of Europe’s energy dependence on Russia,” he added.

He also noted that Europe now has a "joint mission" to support former Soviet Moldova during a "period of energy transition."

The European Commission said that the EU is ready to cut off supplies.

A spokesman for the European Commission said: "Europe's gas infrastructure is flexible enough to supply non-Russian gas. This has been reinforced by significant new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import capacity since 2022."