Kudrytskyi: Fico bluffing on power supply halt
Volodymyr Kudrytskyi (Photo: Facebook.com/vladimir.kudrytskyi)
Slovak PM Robert Fico’s threats
to stop emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine are a bluff, former chairman
of Ukraine’s grid operator Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said on Feb. 23.
He noted that both Slovakia and Ukraine are part of the common European power grid managed by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO‑E).
“Ukrenergo holds the fifth-largest voting weight in ENTSO‑E, while Slovakia’s operator SEPS rank is not even in the top 20,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
Kudrytskyi said that Ukrenergo and SEPS, like any other European transmission system operator, must follow common rules and remain independent of political influence in their countries.
“This means the Slovak government cannot simply stop supplies from Slovakia to Ukraine or, worse, switch off the line that connects the two countries, because, from a technical and financial point of view, that would affect all neighboring countries,” he continues.
“Therefore imports from Slovakia will continue. If the Slovak operator SEPS tries to stop them, Ukrenergo, as a much more influential player in ENTSO‑E, must immediately raise the issue of stripping the Slovaks of certification, voting rights, and so on.”
He added that emergency assistance, which is not considered regular import and which Slovakia could provide perhaps once a month, represents only a small share of Ukraine’s overall electricity imports from the EU. Even without it, Ukraine could obtain required volumes from other neighbors, he said, adding that these emergency purchases are significantly more expensive.
“Those are the rules in the EU, which is where we are heading, no Fico can order Slovakia’s system operator to simply cut off Ukraine,” said Kudrytskyi.
Earlier on Feb. 23, Fico announced he would stop emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine until Kyiv resumes the shipments of Russian oil to Slovakia vie the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline. The pipeline is currently under repairs, after a Russian drone strike damaged pumping infrastructure in western Ukraine on Jan. 27.
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