US pressures Ukraine for control of key gas pipeline
The Guardian reported on Saturday that the US "demands control" over a crucial gas pipeline transmitting Russian gas through Ukraine to Western Europe. This demand is expected to be one of the key points in the agreement being prepared concerning minerals.
What do you need to know?
- The US wants to take control of the pipeline that transmits Russian gas through Ukraine to Western Europe.
- Negotiations regarding the mineral agreement are becoming increasingly intense. The new US proposal is more demanding than previous versions.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasises the need for parity in the agreement. Ukraine will agree to the deal only if the revenues are shared equally.
Trump's appetite grows
US and Ukrainian officials met on Friday to discuss the White House's proposals for the mineral agreement. The Guardian reports that Donald Trump wants Kyiv to hand over its natural resources as "payment" for weapons provided by the Biden administration.
The negotiations over the agreement are becoming increasingly tense, writes "The Guardian" based on Reuters reports. The latest US draft is more "maximalist" than the original version from February, which proposed transferring rare metals worth approximately £410 billion, as well as oil and gas, to Washington.
What are the terms of the new agreement?
According to reports from newspapers like "Financial Times" and Bloomberg, the United States has asked Ukraine to renegotiate the previously agreed but unsigned text of the mineral agreement. The new version proposed by the US aims to give Washington significant control over the exploitation, sale, and profit from Ukraine's natural resource deposits.
Citing a source close to the talks, "The Guardian" writes that the latest document contains a demand for the US International Development Finance Corporation to take control of the pipeline transporting gas from western Russia to Uzhgorod and further into Europe. Built during Soviet times, the pipeline is a crucial element of national infrastructure and a major route for transporting Russian gas to Western Europe.
What does this mean for Ukraine?
Volodymyr Landa, a senior economist at the Economic Strategy Centre, a Kyiv think tank, said Americans want "everything they can get." However, in his view, their "colonial type" demands have little chance of being accepted by Kyiv.
Last autumn, Volodymyr Zelensky proposed granting the US access to Ukraine's underdeveloped mineral sector. He envisioned an agreement under which the Trump administration would supply Ukraine with weapons in exchange for future profits from joint investments.
Instead, Trump refused to commit to security or military support but still wants the minerals. Last week, he complained that Zelensky was trying "to back out of the deal" and said that the President of Ukraine would be in "big trouble" if he didn't sign it, "The Guardian" reminds.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Zelensky said he is ready to make a deal to modernise his country. Still, Ukraine can agree to it only if "parity" between the two parties and the revenues are shared "equally".
- I am just defending what belongs to Ukraine. It should be beneficial to both the United States and Ukraine. This is the right thing to do - said Zelensky.
