KYIV
Ukraine has suspended electricity imports from Russia and Belarus until October 1, 2021, the state energy regulatory authority said.
The decision to ban electricity imports from Russia and Belarus was taken by Ukraine’s Energy Ministry, citing the fact that neither country was a member of the Energy Community of South-East Europe.
“The restriction of electricity imports from states that are not members of the Energy Community should be considered exclusively as a set of measures aimed at ensuring the security of electricity supplies,” Valeriy Tarasyuk, the head of the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities (NEURC) said.
Ukraine has been connected to the energy systems of neighbouring states since Soviet times. The country imported energy from Russia and Belarus due to a lack of domestic power generation at the beginning of this year.
“We remember our experience and this winter, and we remember the balance of interests, because we also think about consumers, and that, in theory, the cessation of imports as a market mechanism can lead to abuses and manipulations in the market,” Tarasyuk said.
He added that Ukraine might extend the ban after October 1.
The regulator has also cancelled the results of annual auctions on allocating imported electricity to local companies for further distribution. Ukrenergo, the transmission system operator, will in advance.
Relations between Ukraine and Russia collapsed after Moscow seized and annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea and Russian-backed separatists took control of territories in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Kyiv’s relations with Minsk soured after Ukraine joined the European Union in not recognising the result of a presidential election that handed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office. Ukraine has also banned flights to and from Belarus, following the forced landing of the flight from Greece to Lithuania and the arrest of a dissident Belarusian journalist on board earlier this month.
Belarus in response is to introduce “discriminatory” trade barriers against a range of goods from Ukraine, a Ukrainian deputy minister said, Reuters reported.
Deputy economy minister Taras Kachka said on Facebook new six-month licences would be required for the import of Ukrainian goods which would come into force in 10 days.
They would apply, among other things, to confectionery, beer, chipboard, wallpaper, toilet paper, packaging, bricks, ceramic tiles, agricultural machinery, washing machines and furniture.