"I am satisfied that we managed to safeguard the full application of the Winter Package for the supply needs in Ukraine," European Commission Vice President responsible for energy Maros Sefcovic, who chaired the trilateral talks, said in a statement late Monday.
Russia asked Ukraine on Friday to complete payment for Russian gas on the day to guarantee gas supplies in March, warning that in line with last October's agreements reached in Brussels, supplies will stop as from Tuesday if no money is received.
"We also agreed to take up trilateral negotiations on the follow-up to the Winter Package. I am reassured that the supply of gas to the EU markets remains secure," said Sefcovic.
According to the gas delivery deal, Ukraine's national oil and gas company Naftogaz will pre-pay and order from Russia's Gazprom sufficient quantities of gas to ensure covering all domestic consumption by Ukraine in March, and Naftogaz continues to guarantee an undisrupted transit of gas to the EU.
Russia and Ukraine also agreed to hold further talks in order to agree on the follow-up to the gas delivery, he said.
On the issue of supplies to certain areas of Donetsk and Lugansk regions, the statement said the two parties acknowledged that further discussion are needed, as it is "highly complex in legal, technical and political terms."
- Sefcovic said the European Commission will propose a draft agenda and invite the parties to a meeting before the end of March.
The package allowed the resumption of Russian gas supply to Ukraine till March 2015 on the condition that by the end of 2014 Ukraine repay in two tranches 3.1 billion dollars of its outstanding debt of over 5 billion U.S. dollars.
Xinhua - china.org.cn
3/3/15
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Related:
Russia's energy minister says Kiev must pay for Russian gas supplied to Donbas...
ReplyDeleteThe question of who will pay for Russian gas supplies to east Ukraine remains unresolved, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday.
Russia considers that its gas supplies to Ukraine’s self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics stand in line with the effective agreement and Ukraine is to pay for them, he told journalists.
"This issue remains unresolved. We consider this to be in line with the contract, and Ukraine is to pay for this," Novak said.
According to the Russian Energy Minister, Ukraine is lying saying it carries out deliveries of gas to DPR and LPR.................http://tass.ru/en/world/780786
3/3/15