ASTANA (Sputnik) — He added that he would continue consultations with Vice-President of the European Commission on Energy Union Maros Sefcovic in late August or early September.
"Sefcovic informed me that yesterday the European Commission has received the mandate. We have not seen this document yet, we will have to examine it," Novak told a press conference.
The minister added that "today all interactions [between Russia and the European Union] are built on the basis of the implementation of the project on a commercial basis."
"We have agreed to continue our consultations, negotiations with Sefcovic. I think that we will also meet at the end of August or beginning of September to continue our dialogue," Novak said.
On Friday, the European Commission said it had adopted a request to the EU ministers for a negotiating mandate with Russia on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. According to the commission's spokesman Alexander Winterstein, the negotiating mandate on the project was needed to avoid that this project, if it ever materializes, would operate in a legal void.
