There Will Be Gas: Gazprom’s Transport Strategy in Europe Russie.Nei.Reports, No. 21, October 2015
The key role of Ukraine in the transportation of Russian gas and the underground gas storage facilities are a legacy of the Soviet era. From the mid-1990s onwards, Gazprom has repeatedly tried to control gas transit through Ukraine and other infrastructures from the Soviet era without success.
As a consequence, Gazprom developed major projects in collaboration with European energy companies to diversify gas supply routes at a time when it anticipated a major increase in European gas demand and import needs of Russian gas. However, this traditional route is currently not entirely replaceable. Furthermore, the Russian company will likely prioritize some projects, as it is fairly complicated to address everything head-on (Nord Stream 2, Turkish Stream).