OREANDA-NEWS. The transit of Russian gas through Ukraine to Europe on Tuesday will decrease by more than 20% and will reach the level of the previous weekend, follows from the data of the GTS Operator of Ukraine (OGTSU). From April 8, fuel pumping began to decline, but this may be due to the arrival of heat in Europe. Gazprom claims that gas is supplied in accordance with consumer requests.

As of April 12, applications for pumping gas through the Sudzha and Sokhranovka stations from Russia amount to 74.54 million cubic meters. This is 22% less than the volume of applications on April 11 - they were then almost 95 million. These figures are below the maximum obligations of Gazprom to Ukraine under the transit contract, which amount to about 109.6 million cubic meters per day (40 billion cubic meters per year). This volume of pumping has been maintained since the end of February, and only since April 8 it has decreased, the main reason for this could be the arrival of warmer weather in Europe.

According to Gazprom, gas supplies via the Ukrainian route are proceeding as usual and in accordance with consumer requests.

On March 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent an instruction to the government to issue a directive to Gazprom to change the currency of payments for natural gas in existing contracts into rubles. According to the president, the changes will affect only the payment currency in which subsequent payments will be made.

At the same time, most European leaders considered the idea of ​​paying for gas supplies in rubles as a violation of existing contracts, where payments are mainly denominated in euros and dollars. European companies are also worried that the purchase of rubles may force them to interact with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, which is under EU and US sanctions.