the Minister of energy and the environmental protection of Ukraine Alexey Orzhel at a press conference on 2 December reported on the outcome of consultations with the Russian Federation, held in Vienna.
"the Bilateral consultations is a common and typical procedure. They hand cook position materials, which are then discussed in a trilateral format," he said. The decision on bilateral consultations were agreed with the European partners and welcome them.
"the question of the transit volumes we koordiniruyutsya with the European side", - assured A. Oriel. "Our priority is energy security and the welfare of citizens. All of our negotiations and consultations comply with these principles. We do not consider the possibility of establishing political gas prices. Direct delivery is possible only if the requirements for arbitration and applying the European indicator prices".
the Minister also stressed that the issue of gas transportation is the issue of security of supply to European markets: "Signing long-term gas transportation contract is stability in the European market and the possibility of reducing gas prices for consumers".
As stated by A. Oriel, soon Ukraine and Russia will shift from technical negotiation to agree on the terms of gas transportation. Now the negotiations about transportation are at the stage of technical consultations. Continues active work on the harmonization of the two treaties, to make concrete decisions.
"In the course of recent consultations can note some progress: has begun discussing options for payment of awards; started a technical dialogue on the signing of the treaties of accession (interconnection agreement) and transportation, which are key tools to enable transit of gas," - said the Minister.
