MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov denied information that Uzbekistan allegedly refused Russia's idea to create a "trilateral gas union."
Earlier, Reuters made such a claim.
"Reuters gave false information, misinterpreted words. We know what was said. Nobody is talking about gas in exchange for political concessions. This is not being discussed in the context of the idea of creating this union," he told reporters on Thursday.
Peskov noted that the creation of a gas union implies coordinating the actions of countries in commercial interests. "Work continues in this regard," he added.
The Kremlin spokesman also explained that each side will continue to sell its energy resources to counterparties, focusing solely on commercial terms.
"The countries are interested in coordinating their actions on the further laying of transport routes, on determining further directions for the development of gas infrastructure, on meeting their domestic needs for natural gas, and here everything is quite closely intertwined," Peskov specified. According to him, the countries are interested in coordinating these areas in order to increase profitability and benefit for each other.
On November 28, at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that during the negotiations that had ended earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the need to create a trilateral gas union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Tokayev added that the Kazakh side "needs to delve into this topic" in order to "come to the desired results and agreements.".