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Russia-Ukraine gas dispute

Technical gas consultations between Russia, EU, Ukraine postponed for next week

The existing contracts on supplies and transit of the Russian gas through Ukraine expire on December 31

BRUSSELS, November 29. /TASS/. Technical gas consultations in the Russia-EU-Ukraine format earlier planned to be held on Friday in Brussels have been postponed for next week, a source in the European Commission (EC) told TASS.

"Technical consultations have been postponed for next week," the interlocutor said.

Read also

Russian Energy Minister describes trilateral gas consultations as constructive

Friday’s expert consultations were meant to be held before the ministerial gas meeting planned for early December. However, now the ministerial consultations will hardly take place next week as the sides need to get prepared for them.

The most recent round of the trilateral ministerial meeting between Russia, the European Union and Ukraine on the gas issue was held on October 28 in Brussels, though it came to naught. Since that time, two rounds of expert consultations have followed, after which the parties acknowledged that there are serious divergences between the positions.

The existing contracts on supplies and transit of the Russian gas through Ukraine expire on December 31. By that time, Russia plans to launch two gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine — Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream. In its turn, Ukraine is obliged to introduce the European energy legislation by the end of this year.

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Russia-Ukraine Gas Dispute

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