WASHINGTON, October 8 (RIA Novosti) - The United States is involved in the ongoing discussion about the Ukrainian gas needs, and wants to see the issue resolved, US Department of State Spokeswoman Jen Psaki stated at a press briefing Tuesday.
“This has been obviously an ongoing discussion. It’s one where our assistant secretary Amos J. Hochstein has been very involved, and a number of officials in the administration have been very involved. We too want to see this resolved, and certainly recognize the seasonal changes that are approaching here,” Psaki said.
US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz stated that it is impossible to reach significant proportions of natural gas exports until the end of the current decade. He also stressed that there was no quick fix of the problem when answering the question whether the dependency of Ukraine on Russia’s gas could be decreased with America’s assistance.
The issue of meeting the Ukrainian gas needs was among the topics on US Assistant Secretary Victoria Nuland’s agenda during her visit to Kiev.
According to Psaki, Nuland discussed “the economic prosperity of Ukraine, and issues like their access to gas, and their need to be well-supplied for the winter.”
“The issues that we continue to discuss with Ukraine at a variety of levels not just through Secretary Nuland but certainly through variety of experts within the State Department and other bodies in the administration,” she added.
Psaki noted that the US Assistant Secretary came to Kiev to reaffirm the US commitment to Ukraine’s territorial integrity, a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, and ongoing reform efforts including “today’s historic votes to move forward new anti-corruption laws.” She’s already met with [Ukrainian] President Poroshenko, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, and numbers of various political parties and civil society.
