North Macedonia reduces Russian gas imports for political reasons — Russian ambassador

MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/. North Macedonia has been reducing Russian gas imports since 2022 against its own interests, new Russian Ambassador in Skopje Dmitry Zykov told TASS in his first interview. "The issue of rejecting Russian gas imports is not the issue of the technical possibility of securing alternatives or cost efficiency but a purely political issue. Is the Balkan nation to blindly follow the EU policy on this issue - the rejection of Russian gas in 2027? North Macedonia, as its foreign policy is showing since 2022, is ready to act even against its own economic interests," the ambassador said. "North Macedonia is taking purposeful steps to reduce imports of Russian natural gas in recent years," Zykov noted. "While its share in physical supplies to the Macedonian market was 99% in 2021, then in 2024 - 77%, and just 47% in 2025. Deliveries of gas from the UAE that substituted Russian one started in the second half of the last year. Its share in the Macedonian market amounted to 39% as of the year-end," he added.