Russian President Vladimir Putin has ruled out the possibility of discontinuation of transmission of Russian natural gas on transit through Ukraine to European countries after the launch of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.

This was reported by the Russian publication, Kommersant, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

“I want to emphasize that it (the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline) is purely a commercial project and that the government is essentially not involved in it. I have already spoken about this many times to avoid any interpretations, and I want to say this again – it definitely does not mean that Russia intends to stop gas transit through the territory of Ukraine,” he said at a meeting with representatives of major German businesses.

Putin also expressed the hope that Russian and Ukrainian companies will find a mutually acceptable solution to gas transit to European countries.

“As you know, we are currently negotiating with our Ukrainian partners. The negotiations are being held in Vienna. As I see it, there are demanding positions on both sides that are, frankly speaking, quite difficult to implement,” he said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the Russian Ministry of Energy has stated that Ukraine, Russia, and the European Union could hold the next round of trilateral talks on transit of natural gas by December 16.

The Naftogaz group’s Executive Director Yurii Vitrenko has said that Russia and Ukraine should sign a new gas transit contract by December 13.

The Naftogaz of Ukraine national joint stock company has stated that it is awaiting proposals from the Russian side before withdrawing its claims for a total of USD 22 billion against the Gazprom gas company (Russia).

This amount includes almost USD 3 billion awarded by Stockholm arbitration that the Gazprom gas company proposes that Naftogaz of Ukraine ‘nullify,’ a lawsuit for an additional USD 12 billion that it wants Naftogaz of Ukraine to withdraw, and the fine of about USD 7 billion that it wants the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to withdraw.

Ukraine stated during the Ukraine-Russia-European Union trilateral talks on transit of Russian natural gas that took place on September 19 that it aimed to reach agreement with the European Union and Russia on a 10-year contract for transit of up to 90 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.

Naftogaz of Ukraine has also stated that it is willing to reduce the size of its claim against Gazprom at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce from USD 12 billion to USD 2 billion if a long-term contract for transit of Russian natural gas through Ukraine is concluded.

© 2019 UNA

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