Ukraine wants Romania to help it get rid of its Russian grip

Ukraine’s Ambassador to Bucharest, Teofil Bauer, explained that Ukraine was very interested in the Romanian model of alternative energy, hence Kiev’s desire to benefit from Romanian expertise. The purpose of Ukraine’s new focus towards green alternative sources is to break its reliance on Russian gas. Moreover, Ukraine generally wants a higher economic and commercial closeness to Romania. Ambassador Bauer gave as example the intention of a Romanian fertilizer company that had contacted the embassy showing interest in exporting to Ukraine. Teofil Bauer did not specify the name of the company. Ukraine is interested in the common European energy and interconnection market, but provided it is in line with its national interests. Ambassador Teofil Bauer explained that in the past Ukraine had been disadvantaged, because it is a country producing electricity, for example, and thus the energy direction should be from Ukraine to Europe. But, in the context of a future common European market, Ukraine could see likely the scenario of exporting energy to Europe, via Romania, as a transit country. Teofil Bauer mentioned that Ukraine produces cheap electricity and said maybe Romania would be interested in buying. Bayer stated that a few years ago a Romanian company wanted to import energy from Ukraine, through the Czech Republic, but the agreement failed due to disadvantageous conditions imposed to Romanians by the Czech side. Thus, in principle, Kiev does not reject the idea of an energy interconnection with Romania.