Zelensky met with Merkel in Berlin on June 18 / REUTERS
The Russian side says it is waiting for the formation of a new government after Ukraine elects a new parliament.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is optimistic about a future deal between Kyiv and Moscow on transit shipments of Russian gas through Ukraine.
"You know our [gas transit] contract is expiring at the end of this year, but now we are at talks, and I think that our groups will sit down soon and, I am sure, we will agree. And no one will twist Ukraine's arms, excuse me for the word," he said at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Tuesday.
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As UNIAN reported earlier, Executive Officer of the Naftogaz Group Yuriy Vitrenko said that the Russian side had refused to conduct trilateral talks on Russian gas shipments via Ukraine in May after the election of a new president, as was previously expected. Russians did not agree on negotiations in June. The Russian side says it is waiting for the formation of a new government after Ukraine elects a new parliament.
On January 21, Brussels held the trilateral Ukraine-EU-Russia negotiations on gas transit after 2019.
On April 24, Vice-President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčović said that the next round of talks in the Ukraine-Russia-EC format on the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine after 2019 could take place in late May, immediately after the election of a new president.
On May 20, after newly elected President Voodymyr Zelensky's inauguration, Šefčović said that the European Union intends to resume the trilateral talks on gas transit as soon as possible.