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Slovakia, Ukraine fail to reach agreement on reverse gas supplies

PRAGUE, April 15. /ITAR-TASS/. Bratislava and Kiev have failed to reach an agreement about reverse-mode gas supplies, a representative from the Slovak minister of energy said on Tuesday.

According to the representative, negotiations held by a Ukrainian delegation led by parliament-appointed Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuri Prodan at the Slovak ministry of energy yielded no progress.

“Slovakia and Ukraine failed to reach an agreement on gas supplies,” the ministry official said, adding that talks on reverse gas supplies would be continued.

The Slovak side offered to pump gas via a pipeline from Slovakia’s Vojany to Ukraine’s Uzhgorod. Ukraine insisted on pumping gas via the transit pipeline used to supply Russian gas to Europe via Slovakia.

Earlier, representatives of the Slovak gas operator Eustream said they were afraid that in case they agreed to Ukraine’s option, their company might violate its current contract with Russia’s Gazprom.

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