Ukrainian Rada Supported Ban On Importing Electricity From Russia And Belarus

The relevant decision has been taken by the majority of the deputies - members of the committee.

The Committee on Energy and Housing and Communal Services of the Ukrainian Rada supported the bill to ban imports of electricity from Russia and Belarus.

The relevant decision was taken by the majority of the deputies-members of the committee at a meeting of the committee on January 27.

The bill was registered by first deputy head of the committee Alexei Kucherenko. It empowers the national regulator, the Committee on Energy and Housing and Communal Services, to restrict imports of electricity from countries that are not members of the Energy Community until the end of 2021. It concerns supplies of Russian electricity directly from Russia or in transit through Belarus.

We remind that Ukraine resumed imports of electricity from Belarus in January 2021. Thanks to deliveries to Ukraine, the Belarusian nuclear power plant was able to reach its full capacity for the first time. More than 130 million kWh has been purchased since the beginning of the year.

Amid criticism of these imports, Ukraine's energy and foreign ministers announced plans to disconnect from the Russian and Belarusian power systems as soon as possible, making it physically impossible to import electricity from these countries.

Last time, in October 2019-March 2020, electricity imports from Russia and Belarus triggered the deepest crisis in the energy market in years of independence. Imports forced 95% of coal mines to shut down, and state-owned energy companies suffered record losses.