BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission have “initialled” a protocol on the so-called winter package of delivering Russian gas to Ukraine, EC Vice President Maros Sefcovic said on his Twitter account Friday.
Major achievement: Gas protocol initialled by RF UA EC Press conf in few min. Live stream: http://t.co/ONbRhOBfl4
— Maroš Šefčovič (@MarosSefcovic) September 25, 2015
Sefcovic also said that the Russian government commits to lower its gas supply prices to Ukraine for the upcoming six months on a par with those offered to neighboring EU states.
“The Russian government commits to lowering the contract price of natural gas to Ukraine in the fourth quarter of 2015 and in the first quarter of 2016 to a competitive level that is comparable with the prices offered to neighboring EU countries,” the EC energy chief said at a press conference in Brussels.
“According to the initialled protocol, the Ukrainian side commits to purchase, still in October, 2bcm of natural gas from Gazprom for further injections into storage,” Sefcovic said.
Sefcovic also said that the final signature of Russia’s gas deliveries contract to Ukraine for the fourth quarter of 2015 needs a separate procedure.
“Confirmation and the signature [of the trilateral gas deal] would require separate procedures,“ Sefcovic said at a press conference in Brussels.
