Ukraine: Government Foreign Affairs and Defense Council (KYSEA) meeting this morning in the shadow of dramatic developments

An extraordinary meeting of Government Foreign Affairs and Defense Council (KYSEA) will be held today, at 9:30 am under the chairmanship of Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the shadow of the dramatic developments in Ukraine.

The Russian president’s announcement to recognize the independence of the territories controlled by pro-Russian separatists has sounded a red alert, as many fear that Russian troops heading to the region will cause new tension.

In this context, the Government Foreign Affairs and Defense Council (KYSEA), chaired by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is meeting this morning, with the participation of the Minister of Environment and Energy, Costas Skrekas.

It is recalled that a week ago Mr. Mitsotakis chaired a meeting at the Maximos Mansion on the occasion of the developments in Ukraine, in which all possible scenarios were discussed with the aim of securing the supply of Greece with natural gas.

Following the latest developments in Ukraine, the interview that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was scheduled to give today, Tuesday, on SPOR FM was postponed.

The scenarios with the consequences if Russia closes the gas pipelines

The route followed by Russian natural gas to reach our country, as well as the alternative sources of supply of this fuel, are the two main reasons why Greece appears reassuring in dealing with possible consequences of a possible decision of Moscow to shut down the pipelines that cross Ukraine.

According to information from, during the meeting held last week at the Maximos Palace under the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Minister of Environment and Energy Costas Skrekas, the President of RAE Athanasios Dagoumas and the CEO of DEPA Commerce Xifaras presented the consequences that our country may have in the event of a Russia-Ukraine war.

PPC President and CEO George Stassis and Thessaloniki University Professor of Energy Economics and Business Research Pantelis Kapros also participated in the energy market.

The extreme scenario

According to sources, in order for Greece to face extreme consequences, Moscow will have to cut off the gas supply to the TurkStream pipeline, through which Gazprom gas reaches the Bulgarian national system and from there goes down to our transmission network.

Something that seems unlikely for the time being, as reported by persons in the know of what was discussed at the meeting under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

However, according to the same information, Costas Xifaras explained the possibilities of covering, with various scenarios of loss of Russian gas, the energy needs both from the LNG storage space in Revythousa and from the TAP pipeline that transports gas from Azerbaijan. It is recalled that the quantities of Russian gas cover about 40% to 45% of domestic consumption.

It is worth emphasizing that DEPA Commerce is said to be moving in procuring other LNG consignments.

Power generation

As OT had revealed on February 5, RAE and the Crisis Management Committee have also proceeded with a plan to limit the consumption of natural gas in the country if necessary.

Thus, according to sources, the power companies PPC, Elpedison and HERON were asked to have their units on standby that can produce electricity from oil (double combustion). These are the PPC units “Komotini” and “Lavrio 4” with a total installed capacity of more than 1 GW, the two units of Elpedison with a total installed capacity of 800 MW and the units of HERON with a capacity of 120 MW. These power plants are the only ones that can run on oil. The other thermal units burn exclusively natural gas, while PPC lignite will also be available.

In this way, in an extreme interruption of gas supply scenario, Greece will not be left without electricity.