The negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will come to an end by the summer, thus ensuring a stable supply of gas to Kiev and reliable transit to Europe, expects the Vice President of the European Commission for the Energy Union, Maroš Šefčovič.
"I hope they will have an opportunity to conclude the negotiations by the summer," Šefčovič said.
Šefčovič, however, said that the date of the new gas meeting between Russia and Ukraine, with the mediation of the EU, has not been agreed, and that the negotiations should be concluded before the European institutions go on vacation in July.
"The European Commission has received answers to questions about the technical details of the new gas negotiations at the expert level. The Commission has proposed a draft text that can serve as a protocol for the next meeting, and expects a response from the participants of the meeting, in order to clarify the remaining disagreements, which will help determine the date of the negotiations," Šefčovič said.
According to him, Russia has extended the validity of the winter package that guarantees the sending of gas to Ukraine until July 2015, and the two parties are now obliged to formulate conditions by the end of the winter of 2016, while they await the decision of the arbitration court in Stockholm on the mutual claims of the Russian Gazprom and Ukrainian Naftogas.
According to Šefčovič, the European Commission should help Ukraine maintain its position as a transit route for Russian gas to Europe and provide it with support in the modernization of the Ukrainian gas transportation system.
"Delivering gas to Europe, bypassing Ukraine, and using the proposed Turkish Stream gas pipeline would be difficult for Russia," said Šefčovič, stating that he had not yet had an insight into the technical details of the Turkish Stream.
Šefčovič said that he visited Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Turkey last Sunday, and that those three countries proposed that the European Commission supervise the timely construction of the Southern Gas Corridor and the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline.
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