Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement on the former Soviet republic will guarantee the supply of Russian gas to the end this month pact that will not be part fuel that Moscow provided to the rebel regions of eastern Ukrainian Donetsk and Lugansk, reported Ukrainian diplomatic sources.
the supply of Russian gas is one of the key disputes in the crisis between Moscow and Kiev, faced after the declaration of independence of Crimea and its immediate annexation by Russia, in March 2014, and the eastern regions of Ukraine dominated by pro-Russian separatists, by which reached a ceasefire which came into force last February.
Both countries had already signed an agreement last October that it gave cover to the gas supply during winter until late March, but was threatened in recent days by new tensions arising from the supply to the pro enclaves Russian and advance payment of imports.
the news is then called a meeting in Brussels, with the mediation of the Union European (EU), in which the EU executive called on both countries to respect the terms of the agreement reached in October.
both sides agreed today to go ahead with the agreement, albeit with conditions, and agreed to return to discuss later this month in order to set a new covenant gas supply for the summer (northern hemisphere), news agency EFE reported.
the meeting was attended by the Minister of Energy of Russia, Alexander Novak, his pair of Ukraine, Vladimir Demchishin, and Vice President and Commissioner for Energy of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic, as well as representatives of the Ukrainian company Naftogaz and Russian gas company Gazprom.
the European Executive tries to mediate in the conflict in part with the intention of avoiding a possible gas shortage in Western Europe. The EU is heavily dependent on Russian gas, much of which passes through Ukraine.
New problems between Russia and Ukraine over gas emerged on 19 February, when Moscow began to supply fuel to the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, before allegations that Kiev had stopped the traffic to these two prorusos enclaves in eastern Ukraine.
last week, Gazprom threatened with an imminent cut gas to Ukraine unless to: pay advance the bill in March.
the Naftogaz Ukraine said last Friday that it had transferred to the Russian monopoly 15 million dollars to cover the gas it needs this month, but Moscow said initially that amount just bought a day of fuel.
An interruption of gas supply concern to the EU, heavily dependent on Russian gas imports (39% of consumption) and Ukraine as a transit country fuel.
if an interruption recur supply and were to affect the transit of gas to the EU, as happened, the most affected Member States are Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland, and to a lesser as Hungary and Poland, according to the European Commission
. Source: Telam