Yuriy Vitrenko, the head of Ukraine’s state-run energy company Naftogaz, has spent the first six months of this year dealing with a series of crises that no other chief executive on the planet has had to contemplate.
Russia has blamed the missing piece of equipment for a 40-per-cent reduction in gas flow through Nord Stream-1, which has contributed to rising energy prices across Europe. A spokesperson for Germanny’s Economy Ministry said this week that Berlin and Ottawa remain in “discussions” about the fate of the turbine. In a virtual meeting on Monday, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko warned Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson that returning the turbine would set “a negative precedent” of circumventing the West’s sanctions against Moscow.
Naftogaz wasn’t alone in fleeing Kyiv in the first hours and days of the conflict. Western embassies, including Canada’s, had already abandoned their premises in Kyiv, and torched documents, in the terrifying run-up to war. Now back in his office – with its view of the Presidential Administration building that’s still considered a prime Russian target – Mr.
Mr. Vitrenko said the decision to continue shipping Russian gas is “always a moral challenge” for Naftogaz. “From the very first days of the war, this topic was discussed at the highest level here in Kyiv, but also in Berlin and in Washington. And there are reasons why we’re still doing that.
Mr. Vitrenko said that when Europe stopped buying Russian gas, “it will just automatically mean that there’s no transit.”