Updated 02:15 p.m. Moscow Time
KIEV, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - Kiev is skeptical about the next round of three-party gas talks scheduled for October 29, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Wednesday.
"We need additional 5 billion of cubic meters that we can buy from Russia. I'm quite skeptical about the possibility of building relations with Russia, but we will see how the situation will develop on [October] 29," he said.
In relation to the additional gas deliveries Yatsenyuk stated that those gas volumes also could be received via the increase in reverse deliveries of Russian gas to Ukraine from Europe. The prime minister said Ukraine was currently working on this issue with its European partners.
Earlier this week, the EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said that two temporary agreements were expected to be signed during the next round of trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the European Union on October 29. One agreement was meant to be a political one, the other was supposed to be a commercial one.
According to Oettinger, Russia could supply four billion cubic meters of gas to Ukraine at $385 per 1,000 cubic meters on prepayment conditions.
Oettinger also stated that Ukraine's Naftogaz was ready to pay off $3.1 billion of its gas debt to Russia in two tranches before year's end.
In June, Russian energy giant Gazprom switched Ukraine to a prepayment system for gas deliveries due to its gas debt of more than $5 billion. Last week, Russian and Ukrainian leaders met on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in Milan and reached a preliminary agreement on Kiev's payment of its gas debt to Russia.
