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EU Council head welcomes gas agreement between Russia, Ukraine in call with Putin

On December 27, former Vice-President of the European Commission for the Energy Union Maros Sefcovic signed a letter confirming that the Ukrainian gas transmission system was ready to operate in accordance with EU legislation

BRUSSELS, January 16. /TASS/. President of the European Council Charles Michel has had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and welcomed the agreement reached by Moscow and Kiev on natural gas transit to Europe through Ukraine, the council said in a statement on Thursday.

"During the first contact between Charles Michel, in his capacity as president of the European Council, and Vladimir Putin, president Michel recalled the EU's position on the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements; noted the Paris Summit held in December 2019 in the Normandy format and welcomed the gas transit agreement concluded between Ukraine and Russia," the statement reads.

The statement reiterates, "The EU supports Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders."

On December 19, reports emerged that Russia, Ukraine and the EU reached an agreement in principle on gas transit following talks in Berlin. On December 27, former Vice-President of the European Commission for the Energy Union Maros Sefcovic signed a letter confirming that the Ukrainian gas transmission system was ready to operate in accordance with EU legislation.

Russian energy giant Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller announced earlier that the package of agreements with Ukraine’s Naftogaz was signed by parties on December 30 after five days of continuous negotiations in Vienna. The documents came into force after December 31, 2019 to ensure transit of Russian gas through Ukraine.