BRUSSELS, November 12. /TASS/. Representatives of the European Union, Russia and Ukraine have failed to reach progress on the key issue of mutual withdrawal of gas claims, including the Stockholm arbitration court and revocation of Kiev’s antimonopoly decisions, at the gas consultations so far, a European source in Brussels told TASS on Tuesday.

"There has been no progress on the issue of the zero option on legal claims (which is part of the package decision on gas transit to EU for 2020 - TASS). That issue was not discussed at the closed expert consultations on November 8 and within exchange of letters," he said. On November 8, expert consultations only focused on the "discussion of the gas transit agreement between the Russian Gazprom and the Ukrainian gas transport operator on the transit agreement and gas transit tariffs," according to the source.

The European Commission (EC) has offered holding another round of trilateral ministerial gas consultations on November 19, the source said, adding that not all sides have provided confirmation yet.

"Currently November 19 is under consideration as the date of holding the meeting, though it has not yet been confirmed by the sides. We expect the final date to be approved in the near future," he said. The meeting will be mainly focused on the "discussion of the agreement on supplies and transit of gas in the period starting January 1, 2020," the source added.

The most recent round of trilateral consultations between Russia, the European Union, and Ukraine on gas transit to Europe was held on October 28 in Brussels. According to its results, the parties for the first time since 2014 started talking about resuming direct deliveries of the Russian gas to Ukraine.

Gazprom and Naftogaz of Ukraine plunged into a litigation over gas supplies and transit contracts back in 2014, as administered by the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. On February 28, 2018, the Stockholm Arbitration court handed down a final decision on the dispute, ordering the Russian company to pay $2.56 bln to Naftogaz of Ukraine. Gazprom challenged these decisions and later sought complete cancellation of the ‘transit’ decision.

The two contracts signed in 2009 by Gazprom and Naftogaz on gas supplies to Ukraine and on gas transit through the country to Europe will expire at the turn of 2019-2020.