Battle of Kursk: Russian Gas Supplies to Europe in Question

In the Russian town of Sudzha, fierce fighting continues unabated between the Russian army and a Ukrainian sabotage group that invaded the territory of the Russian Federation on August 6. Sudzha hosts the pumping station, through which Russian natural gas is exported to Ukraine and then to some European countries. Ukrainian missile strikes near critical infrastructure have jeopardized European supplies.

Sergei Kupriyanov, an official spokesman for Russian state oil company Gazprom, said Saturday, August 17, that the flow of “blue fuel” is proceeding normally: “Russia is faithful to its commitments. On Saturday, 42.3 million cubic meters of gas will be exported as agreed with European consumers.” In 2023, Gazprom exported 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas through pipelines from Sudzha to Europe, which is 4.5% of the total consumption of the EU countries.

One of the main consumers of Russian gas is Serbia, which has said it is very concerned about the possible consequences of the Ukrainian raid. On Thursday (August 14), Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev received for talks Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin, who urgently traveled to Moscow to discuss with his Russian colleagues the current situation and prospects for the development of European exports of Russian gas via the Ukrainian route.

In 2023, Russia supplied Serbia with 2.68 billion cubic meters of gas, and in 2024 the volume – barring unforeseen circumstances – should exceed 3 billion cubic meters. The gas transit agreement between Ukraine and Gazprom expires at the end of 2024, and Kiev has said it will not extend the agreement. In this context, Moscow and Belgrade are looking for alternatives to the “Ukrainian route.” According to Dusan Baiatovic, director of the Serbian energy company Srbiagas, the agreement with Russia, under which Serbia pays less than $300 per thousand cubic meters of Russian gas, the lowest price in all of Europe, will be extended until June 2025.

In the current dramatic situation and after new European sanctions against Russian energy exports, Iran said it is “ready to transship Russian natural gas through its territory.” As Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said on the sidelines of the Caspian Economic Forum held in the Russian city of Astrakhan, “we are very interested in cooperation with the Russian Federation. We are ready to transship Russian gas through Iranian territory.” Jalali recalled that in 2023, “Russia ranked first in terms of foreign investment in Iran.”