Minister Orzhel: Russia ready to sign agreement on gas transit
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The Russian Federation is ready to sign an agreement on gas transit if Ukraine fulfills the norms of European legislation.
"As promised to our European partners, we came [to the talks] already with the decisions which had been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday. We have unblocked the process of unbundling and are really ready to create an independent GTS operator. We discussed with our European partners a roadmap on how we will work every day and how the issue of GTS certification will be solved. It is very important so that we could sign two agreements pursuant to the European legislation on January 1: an interconnector agreement and a gas supply agreement," Energy and Environmental Protection Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Orzhel said at a press conference, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to him, the Russian Federation no longer insists on the extension of the previous contract on transportation and expresses its readiness to work according to the European rules.

"We will act as efficiently as possible to ensure the preparations for the signing of agreements in accordance with the European law. In response, the Russian side confirmed that if the Ukrainian side is ready as of January 1, it [Russia] is ready to sign agreements as required by European rules," the minister said.

He said that the parties discussed the volumes of transportation, tariffs, possible direct gas supplies from the Russian Federation to Ukraine.

"The Russian side raised the issue of direct supplies. We agreed that further discussion within the consultations should be based on market principles. There should be really a market price," Orzhel added.

However, he did not rule out that the agreement on transportation may not be signed despite the constructive mood that appeared in the negotiations with the Russian Federation.

The 3d round of the EU-Ukraine-Russia talks on Russian gas transit to the European market through the territory of Ukraine was held in Brussels on Thursday, September 19.

The agreement on Russian gas transit through the territory of Ukraine ends on December 31, 2019.