Ukraine Says Trilateral Deal With EU Only Option for Russian Gas Supplies

The only mechanism to ensure both the transit of Russian gas to the EU and gas supplies to Ukraine, is a new trilateral deal simmilar to the so-called winter package of 2014-15, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.

KIEV (Sputnik) — A new trilateral deal similar to the so-called winter package of 2014-2015 is the only viable option for future Russian gas deliveries to Ukraine, the country's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Friday.

"We are convinced that the only mechanism for ensuring the transit of gas to the European Union, as well as the stability of gas supplies to Ukraine, is a similar mechanism to the one we had last year between the EU, Russia and Ukraine. This is a tripartite protocol between Ukraine, the EU and Russia, and an annex to the gas deal similar to those signed last year," Yatsenyuk told reporters.

Late in June, trilateral talks on Russian gas supplies to Ukraine between Moscow, Kiev and Brussels ended in a stalemate as the sides failed to agree on a set price for the third quarter of 2015.

Russia offered a $40-per-1,000-cubic-meters discount for gas supplies for the quarter, while Kiev was looking for a discount of $100 per 1,000 cubic meters, the same as it received under the winter package agreement that was extended into the second quarter of 2015.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it is no longer possible to provide the $100-dollar discount to Ukraine due to falling global oil prices.

In July, Russia’s envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said that the next trilateral meeting on gas supplies to Ukraine is planned for September.