"If Russian gas stops flowing in Eastern Europe in the same volume it has been flowing via Ukraine up to this moment, it will lead to something which has been agreed at the European level — we will have to reduce our industrial production or even curtail it before people start to freeze there," Habeck said at the East German Economic Forum.
The minister also stated that it is impossible to predict what would happen to the deal on gas transit between Moscow and Kiev amid the current conflict in Ukraine.
Due to the current uncertainty and possible risks for the German economy, Berlin has to store more gas and further develop infrastructure necessary for its imports, including building terminals for liquefied natural gas, the German minister added.
In late May, the Washington Post reported that Ukrainian state-run energy company Naftogaz wanted to keep pumping Russian gas through Ukraine despite the ongoing conflict, as transit brings profits and limits the area of Russian air strikes.
To date, Russia’s Gazprom supplies about 40 million cubic meters of gas per day to the Sudzha entry point on border with Ukraine for further transit to Europe. The current transit contract expires in December 2024.