Commission Vice President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight Maroš Šefčovič, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Ukrainian Energy Minister Oleksiy Orzhel after Trilateral Gas Talks in Berlin, 19 December 2019.
Following intense negotiations, Russian, Ukrainian representatives have reached an agreement in principle in Berlin on 19 December to continue the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory. The talks were held at the German Ministry of Economics and Energy with the support of Minister Peter Altmaier who helped broker the agreement in principle reached on 19 December.
“After this very intensive talks I’m glad to say we reached an agreement in principle on all key elements which I believe is very good and very positive news for Europe, for Russia, for Ukraine, for gas markets and for citizens in all countries,” Commission Vice President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight Maroš Šefčovič, who was previously the VP for Energy Union and been involved in several Russia-Ukraine gas talks, told a news conference in Berlin with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Ukrainian Energy Minister Oleksiy Orzhel.
The current 10-year gas agreement is due to expire in two weeks. However, the terms of the deal are not yet clear. “I just would like to also today we are not going to proceed with the discussion of the details because that agreement in principle which we reached will be tomorrow discussed in the capitals and needs to be finalised and approved by the capitals in Ukraine, in Russia and then we would proceed to the formal signatures,” Šefčovič said.
He thanked Altmaier for helping the EU to broker the agreement in principle Russia and Ukraine reached on 19 December. “I would also to extend on behalf of the European Union but also I believe on behalf of Russia and Ukraine a handful of gratitude and thanks to (German) Chancellor (Angela) Merkel for her constant support and also the constructive atmosphere she managed to create in the discussion in the format of Normandy together with the President of Russian Federation Mr. (Vladimir) Putin and President of Ukraine Mr (Volodymyr) Zelensky,” Šefčovič said.
For his part, Novak thank the hosts on behalf of his delegation and Altmaier for the efforts “so we could reach progress in our negotiations and we had a very productive work. We could prepare a draft of a protocol which is quite ready and we just need to approve it and very soon we will get the signatures. Also, I would like to thank my colleague the minister for very constructive approach. We have been working together for a very long time.”
Earlier on 19 December, Putin told his annual press conference Russia wants to maintain natural gas transit through Ukraine after Nord Stream-1, Nord Stream-2 and TurkStream are put into operation. The agreement is particularly important for Ukraine for gas transit revenues and its own supply of gas across several parts of the country.
