BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – The European Commission (EC) plans to hold a trilateral meeting on the expert level with Ukraine and Russia on the delivery of Russian gas to Ukraine on April 16, a spokesperson from the EC press service said Tuesday.
"The European Commission's Department of Energy has invited [representatives from Russia and Ukraine] to technical trilateral negotiations on the expert level on this Thursday," the spokesperson told RIA Novosti.
Initially, the Commission intended to conduct a three-party meeting on April 14.
In October 2014, the European Union brokered a deal to supply Russia's natural gas to Ukraine until March 31. Prior to that, Russia suspended gas deliveries to Ukraine for several months due to Kiev's immense gas debt.
Later, the so-called winter package deal giving Ukraine a $100-discount per each 1,000 cubic meters of gas was extended for additional three months.
On April 10, the head of Ukraine's Naftogaz said he hoped to sign a year-long deal with Russia's energy giant Gazprom and secure a $1.5-billion loan from the European Union to purchase 6 billion cubic meters of Russian gas for underground storage.
