"We are ready to start a dialogue, the president had also spoken about this, we are ready to sit down with our European partners, colleagues, and I am not just referring to the current gas season, it is possible for such a situation to happen again," the deputy prime minister said during the 'News on Saturday' program on the Russia 1 TV channel.
Novak noted that currently, Europe's underground gas storage facilities lack around 25 billion cubic meters of gas and stressed that urgent action is needed.
Earlier this week, Novak said that gas prices in Europe are high amid low storage levels, not because of lack of supply. According to him, the occupancy of gas storages is at the minimum level over the past five years, that is, approximately 74%, while this percentage is usually higher - 85-90%.
The prices for natural gas have been going up in the European market over the past few months, spurred by increasing energy demand amid the global economic recovery after months of COVID-19 lockdowns, as well as limited supply.