MOSCOW, October 28. / TASS /. The Russian Ministry of Energy sees the readiness of partners from Ukraine to begin supplying Russian gas directly starting in 2020, the Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview with Russia-24 TV channel following trilateral consultations on gas between Russia, the EU and Ukraine on Monday.

"We also discussed issues of gas supplies to Ukraine. We see the readiness of our partners, including on gas supplies, from 2020, directly," he said. "Specific figures will be discussed later."

As for Russia, it is ready to ensure gas transit through Ukraine in 2020 in accordance with the European law, if the Ukrainian side is geared up for this, Alexander Novak commented following the tripartite consultations on gas.

The energy minister pointed out that Russia was ready to work with Ukraine under the existing contract for gas transit through the country until Ukraine implements European legislation. "It is important for us, we have emphasized this the previous time — we are ready to work under European law. If our partners cannot implement this legislation in time, we are ready to work on the basis of the existing contract with technical adjustments after 2020 and until the law is implemented," he said.

"As a backup plan, we are ready to ensure extension of the current gas transit agreement to 2020. However if our Ukrainian colleagues are ready to work under the European law, we are also ready to ensure gas transit through Ukraine from 2020 under this legislation," Novak stated.

Russia, the European Union and Ukraine agree to endeavor to avoid traps and pitfalls in new Ukrainian gas transit legislation, Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak went on.

"We will also continue analyzing the regulatory base of Ukrainian legislation in terms of interaction in order to confirm once again, from the Russian side and from the European Commission’s side, that the Ukrainian legislation corresponds to the European legislation, without any pitfalls there. We agreed upon that. In my opinion, negotiations were positive — we will continue interacting with our colleagues. Next consultations are agreed to be held in late November," Novak said.

"We will study the methodology published on October 25, the methodology of fixing tariffs on gas pumping from the territory of Ukraine. We await publishing not merely in Ukrainian but also in English. This will be discussed shortly. We will make the analysis in respect of competitiveness of tariffs and other routes. This is an important point pertaining to the efficiency of implementing the project of gas pumping via the Ukraine’s gas transmission system," the Minister added.

The current 10-year contract for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine expires at the end of this year. By this time, Russia plans to launch two gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine — the Nord Stream 2 and the TurkStream.

Settlement of legal disputes

The Russian Energy Ministry supports an end-to-end solution with Ukraine, comprising gas transit and supplies and settlement of litigation, Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Monday.

"An important point we have discussed today was related to other aspects of our relations, including settlement of legal disputes. We believe they should be resolved in a package, including issues related to Russian gas supplies directly to Ukrainian consumers, bypassing reverse. This is also an issue that has been discussed today," the Minister said.

Next trilateral gas consultations

The next trilateral consultations on gas between Russia, the European Union, and Ukraine will be held at the end of November, the Russian energy minister reported.

"Next consultations will be held at the end of November. We have a positive attitude, and, in my opinion, the meeting was quite constructive," he said. "There are, of course, questions and risks. We will resolve these issues together in the future," Novak added.

Signing gas transit agreement

Russia, the European Union and Ukraine are set to sign the gas transit agreement this year, Alexander Novak said.

"We see in general that the European Commission and Ukrainian partners have constructive mood; we will continue our interaction," Novak commented.

"Everyone aims at finding all the required solutions to ensure gas pumping, gas transit from 2020, and we will continue working intensively at the level of ministries and the level of companies," he added.

Nord Stream 2 

The Nord Stream 2 project was discussed only at the bilateral meeting between representatives of Russia and the European Commission; this issue was not raised at tripartite consultations on gas with the participation of Ukraine, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak informed after the meeting.

"No, we did not discuss this issue at the trilateral meeting today. We discussed it during bilateral negotiations with the European Commissioner Mr. Sefcovic. We emphasized once again that this is a commercial project, Europe is interested in it, and expressed negative attitude to possible sanctions on this project," Novak said in an interview with Russia-24.