Ukraine is right to turn off the flow of Russian gas - whatever the cost

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

59% : It is right for the EU to be buying its energy elsewhere, even if the speed of the transition up-ended the German economy - with the coming early election as a by-product.
55% : And that is the right direction for the EU to be taking.
54% : Slovakia and others needed the gas and needed time to make alternative provision - which has been done, largely thanks to the EU.
53% : That the gas was still flowing into the EU until the early morning of 1st January 2025, nonetheless, risked undermining the European Union's generally solid support for Ukraine, as it seemed to send mixed messages at the very least.
52% : Russia, for its part, might have halted supplies but chose not to, partly in its own financial interests, partly in the interests of preserving its reputation as a reliable supplier, and no doubt partly in the hope of trying to split the EU over its support for Ukraine.
50% : Some Russian gas may still reach Hungary - as well as Turkey and Serbia, both outside the EU - via the TurkStream pipeline, and some EU countries are buying some Russian gas in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
47% : Indeed, it almost beggars belief that, nearly three years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian gas was still being piped to several EU countries, including Austria and Slovakia, and that - despite all the sanctions imposed by Ukraine's allies with a view to harming the Russian economy - pre-war contracts were being honoured on all sides as though nothing had happened.
47% : Nor is the EU likely to resume its energy relations with Moscow, much though it would appear that Russia, and some of its old customers, would like to see the pipelines reactivated once the Ukraine war is over.
43% : Different EU countries have introduced different measures, with the UK being among the least generous, not to say politically unwise in the way it summarily stopped the winter fuel payment for most pensioners.
41% : And it is right, even if the erstwhile EU recipients of the Russian gas that flowed through Ukraine now face higher costs, either through new reverse switching operations from the EU or from more expensive LNG bought mainly from the United States or the Gulf.
38% : On the other side of Europe, Ukraine ended the transit of Russian gas across its territory, forcing several EU countries to turn to imports of more expensive liquefied natural gas.
33% : The EU should also do what it can to help Moldova, which is not in the EU and has no alternative supply.
31% : Stopping it has triggered another global price spiral, and may yet have dire political consequences - but EU leaders cannot afford to maintain this habitThe first day of the new year came with bad tidings for energy consumers, both in Britain and across Europe.

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