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The flow of natural gas from Russia to Europe was suspended Wednesday after Ukraine said it would not renew a deal allowing Russian gas to transit its territory, ending an energy supply route that dates back some 60 years.In a statement posted to Telegram, Russian energy company Gazprom said it was no longer sending gas because of the expiration of the agreement Wednesday.“Due to the repeated and explicit refusal of the Ukrainian side to extend these agreements, Gazprom was deprived of the technical and legal ability to supply gas for transit through the territory of Ukraine from January 1, 2025....

Natural gas stopped flowing through a pipeline that runs from Russia through Ukraine on Wednesday, according to officials in both countries. The effects of the halt, though long expected, could ripple through Europe’s energy sector and potentially affect Moscow’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine. Here’s what you need to know: What happened?Why did this happen now?What will it mean for Europe?The most affected countriesWhat happened? Ukraine refused to renew an agreement that allowed Russia to send natural gas through a pipeline to Europe. The deal was honored even after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, kicking off the bloodiest...

Russian energy has continued to transit unimpeded through Ukrainian territory every day until now, with the taps being firmly closed on New Year’s Day. Zero Russian gas is flowing to European customers through Ukrainian pipelines for the first time in decades today, confirmation there was to be no last-minute deal to keep the route open, sending energy prices spiking on Tuesday. The route has seen billions of cubic feet of gas delivered since the end of the Cold War, and a five-year contract between Moscow and Kyiv governing the transit of gas continued to be observed, remarkably, right to the...

Gazprom reportedly confirmed the stoppage, saying Kyiv refused to extend a deal. LONDON -- Ukraine stopped the flow of Russian natural gas through its territory to Europe at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, as a long-held deal expired, Kyiv officials said. "We stopped the transit of Russian gas, this is a historic event," Herman Galushchenko, Ukraine's energy minister, said in a statement. "Russia is losing markets, it will suffer financial losses." The move had been expected, as Galushchenko and other officials signaled they were preparing to stop the transnational pipelines and discussing the move with neighboring nations. "We have undergone a...

Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine are to end on Wednesday, when a five-year deal between Ukraine's gas transit operator Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom expires... (had given the EU a year to prepare)... ...The European Commission said the continent's gas system was "resilient and flexible" and that it had sufficient capacity to cope with the end of transit via Ukraine... ...Russia has transported gas to Europe through Ukraine since 1991... ...Once the Ukrainian transit route is cut off, the Black Sea's TurkStream - which reaches Turkey, Hungary and Serbia - will be the only (pipeline) Russian gas supply to...

Vitalij Kuprij, a member of Trans-Siberian Orchestra and a highly regarded Ukrainian-American pianist and keyboardist, died on Tuesday (Feb. 20) at 49, according to his friend and musical colleague Lars Eric Mattsson, a Finnish guitarist and producer. Kuprij performed with Trans-Siberian Orchestra on their latest seasonal tour throughout November and December 2023. And before rejoining the symphonic heavy metal band in 2021, he was also included in their lineup from 2009 to 2019. Indeed, the keyboardist was part of the group for 17 winter tours in total, where Trans-Siberian Orchestra are known for their holiday-driven stage show based on their...

A nuclear weapons command exercise by NATO in November 1983 prompted fear in the leadership of the Soviet Union that the maneuvers were a cover for a nuclear surprise attack by the United States, triggering a series of unparalleled Soviet military re­sponses, according to a top-secret U.S. intelligence review that has just been declassified. “In 1983, we may have inadvertently placed our relations with the Soviet Union on a hair trigger,” the review concluded.

Russia offers a bridge across history to connect Tokyo to the Trans-Siberian railway By The Siberian Times reporter 07 September 2017 Scheme would allow epic journeys from London to the Japanese capital with major international crossing between Sakhalin and Hokkaido. Project of the bridge between mainland and Sakhalin. Picture: Giprostroymost The ambitious plan gave a welcome dose of optimism to a region engulfed by tension over the North Korean nuclear tests. Such a road and rail bridge would tie together two countries - Russia and Japan - that have not signed a formal peace agreement ending the Second World War...

December 26, 2002 Trans-Siberian goes fully electric     By Anatoly Medetsky At a ceremony in a frozen village of the Russian Far East officials on Wednesday celebrated the end of electrification of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, an upgrade hoped to boost competitiveness of the world's longest rail track. The railroad has been advertising itself as the principal alternative to the sea route across the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal that most businesses now use to ship their containers from Asia to Europe. Russia has been negotiating to extend the route across North Korea to the port of Pusan in...