EU, Russia, Ukraine agree winter gas supply deal
BRUSSELS: Russia has agreed to resume gas supplies to Ukraine during winter, reports APP news agency.
The deal was reached late Friday with the European Union after a six month long talks.
In a press conference, European Commission vice president for energy, Maros Sefcovic, told reporters that deal was a “crucial step” to ensure Ukraine will have gas supplies from October through March and that Europe receives onward deliveries. Winter is very harsh in Ukraine and thousands of people died in eastern Ukraine last year when gas supply was suspended to this war torn region.
“We just initialed a trilateral agreement for the upcoming winter. All technical details are agreed and the framework was set but confirmation and formal signing of the full agreement would require separate procedures. “I’m confident that the agreement will soon be confirmed and smoothly implemented”, said Sefcovic.
According to AFP news agency, Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn told reporters.
That “commercial conditions were acceptable” and that he expected the deal to be signed shortly. “I’m sure we will be preparing for the heating season and start pumping gas into storage shortly. Ukraine confirmed in this document its capacity to ensure uninterrupted transit of Russian gas to EU partners,” he added.
It may be mentioned that Ukraine is receiving reverse gas from Europe that is provided by Russia to Europe because Ukraine did not pay money to Russia and Russia suspended its direct gas supply while Europe offered gas to Ukraine on “Reverse Arrangements”.
Ukraine and Russia backed separatists are fighting in Eastern Ukraine since last one year and over 8,000 people have been killed in this conflict. Ukraine economy is in turbulent since it joined European bloc after a US sponsored regime change in Kiev in February 2014.
