Zelenskiy Duda
President Zelenskiy of Ukraine and President Duda of Poland shaking hands in June 2019.
Last weekend, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy put rest to any remaining doubts about in which direction the country would be looking under his premiership as he slammed Russia's controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline and simultaneously welcomed the moves by Kyiv to import US liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies.
Mr Zelenskiy made his comments as he stood besides the Polish president Andrzej Duda as the two men attended the ceremonies in Warsaw to mark 80 years since the outbreak of the Second World War.
“We hold the same position as Poland: Nord Stream 2 is unacceptable and it threatens Europe as a whole,” Zelenskiy said.
“We want the diversification of sources of energy delivery within the US, Poland and Ukraine triangle.”
The three countries of the 'triangle' agreed later to strengthen cooperation aimed at the security of energy supplies in a region heavily dependant on Russian deliveries.
The agreement mostly focused on directing Ukraine's gas infrastructure to deliveries from the West, including US LNG.
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry signed the agreement, along with Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk and Poland's chief energy strategist, Piotr Naimski,
Last week, PGNiG, Poland's state-owned gas company, confirmed that it was selling a shipment of LNG from the US to ERU energy, its Ukrainian counterpart.
Poland has been trying to wean itself off Russian gas for some time now. In April, the government signed an agreement to extend the LNG terminal at Świnoujście on the country's north-west coast. The terminal will receive imports from the US and the Middle East.
Mr Naimski has said that Poland would be able to supply Ukraine with six billion cubic metres of gas annually by 2021.
Ukraine, which is also reliant on Russian gas, has also been looking to diversify its supply. In January 2009, the country had its supply switched off by Gazprom following a dispute over an unpaid bill. The cut off lasted for 13 days and affected all of southern Europe. The 2014 annexation of Crimea by Moscow, as well as the pro-Russian separatist conflict in the country's east have led Kyiv to consistently look west and disentangle itself from its eastern neighbour.
The €11-billion Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is to run under the Baltic Sea and will double Russian gas exports to Germany.
Poland, Ukraine and the US all oppose the project, arguing that it will put Europe in Russian president Vladimir Putin's pocket.
Speaking next to Zelenskiy was Polish President Andrzej Duda, who said that Warsaw wanted its neighbour “Ukraine to be closer to the European Union, to be closer to NATO” and reiterated calls for the return of Crimea.
Poland has long supported closer ties between Kyiv and the west, believing that its security depends heavily on Ukraine remaining out of Russia's sphere of influence.
President Duda hailed President Zelenskiy, a 41-year-old former comedian who came to power in April following a surprise victory, as a “president with an open mind and who wants his country to be part of the free world, the democratic world”.
Zelenskiy said that he and his Polish counterpart “spoke very honestly about many existing problems”, adding there were “no matters that we can’t resolve with dialogue and understanding”.
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