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EC intends to hold trilateral meeting on gas after presidential elections in Ukraine

The contract for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine, signed in 2009, expires in late 2019

BRUSSELS, April 9 / TASS /. The European Commission (EC) intends to convene a trilateral meeting on gas with Moscow and Kiev representatives immediately after the presidential elections in Ukraine, said Deputy Head of the European Union for Energy Maros Sefcovic on Tuesday at a briefing.

He added that as of now, the European Commission "has not received an answer on the dates of this meeting" from Moscow and Kiev.

"As you already know we are in the midst of the presidential campaign in Ukraine. We reached out to both parties, to Russia and Ukraine, because when we met last time in January, we agreed that we should try and see each other again in mid-May. So far, and I understand, especially because of the election campaign in Ukraine, we didn't get a response," Sefcovic said.

"But I can assure you that we will do our utmost to have a trilateral meeting before summer, before the summer recess, because after that, time is short. We need to sort out the situation for the gas supplies. not only for the next winter, but as you know, top priority for the European Union is to secure the long-term transit contract through Ukraine for atleast the next 10 years...and we will try to reconvine this meeting as soon as possible, after the Ukranian presidential election," Sefcovic explained.

The contract for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine, concluded in 2009, expires at the end of this year. Earlier, Gazprom representatives stated that they did not rule out the preservation of a certain volume of gas transit through the Ukrainian gas transportation system from 2020, despite obtaining all the necessary additional capacity for gas transit to Europe through the Nord Stream - 2 and Turk Stream. Currently, Kiev receives up to $ 3 billion a year from the transit of Russian gas.