REUTERS
A proposed pipeline to boost Russian gas supplies to Germany risks depriving Ukraine of more than $2 billion in transit fees and runs counter to the EU's goal of reducing its energy reliance on Russia, a U.S. official said on Thursday, according to Reuters.
The European Union has sought to help Kyiv in the aftermath of Moscow's annexation of Crimea and has looked to enhance energy ties with Ukraine as Russia threatens to stop piping gas via its neighbor, the report notes.
"You have to ask: Why would you support Ukraine with one hand and strangle it with the other," Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy Robin Dunnigan told a conference of policymakers.
"Cutting off all gas transit through Ukraine would deprive it of $2.2 billion in annual revenue," Dunnigan said.
"North Stream 2 actually threatens not only Ukraine's survivability and their resources, but it is a risk to fuel diversification in Europe, especially southeastern Europe," she warned.
Russia's Gazprom sends large volumes of gas to the EU via Ukraine but has stated it aims to bypass this route. Gazprom already sends gas to Germany across the Baltic Sea via the Nord Stream pipelines and the proposed Nord Stream 2 project would double capacity to 110 billion cubic meters per year.
The cost of the plan is set at about EUR 9.9 billion ($11 billion).
While the EU and United States have imposed sanctions on Russia because of its annexation of Crimea and its support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, energy ties between Moscow and Europe remain deep. Russia provides around a third of the EU's energy need, the report notes.