MINSK, August 26 (RIA Novosti) – Russia, Ukraine and the European Union agreed to continue the three-party talks on gas issues that stalled this summer, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Tuesday.
The three-party consultations continued from mid-April to June, but produced no result. Kiev insisted on a sharp reduction in the gas price refusing otherwise to pay its debt that had reached at the moment $4.5 billion. Russia later offered a discount, which however, failed to satisfy Kiev’s demands. After that the Russian side announced it would continue negotiation only after Kiev cleared its debt. On June 16, Gazprom introduced a prepayment system for gas deliveries to the country.
The European Commission has repeatedly called for the consultations to be resumed.
Later on Tuesday, Novak may meet in Minsk with Gunther Oettinger, the vice-president of the European Commission responsible for energy. The announcement was made by the Russian energy minister.
“I think that we will [meet],” Novak said.
He added that “the current situation in gas supplies, transit and so on may be discussed in details during the Moscow meeting” with Oettinger, scheduled for Friday.
