BRUSSELS, May 14 (RIA Novosti) – European companies believe the current Ukrainian crisis will not disrupt the flow of Russian gas to Europe, Eurogas President Jean-Francois Cirelli said Wednesday.
“Russian companies, in particular Gazprom, never stopped supplies to the European companies before. It has never been the case since 1975 so we do believe and we do think that this should not be the case in this ongoing crisis," Cirelli said at a conference on EU-Russian energy cooperation in Brussels.
He underscored that for 40 years Russia has been Europe's most reliable energy partner.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last month addressed EU leaders in a letter where he expressed concerns about possible disruptions of gas transit to Europe if Ukraine fails to meet its obligations and pay off its gas debt to Gazprom, which currently stands at $3.5 billion.
Gazprom earlier said it would stop deliveries of natural gas to Ukraine if Kiev failed to pre-pay by June 2. The company also voiced concerns that Naftogaz could fail to fulfill its commitments on gas transit, siphoning off gas destined for European consumers.
