REUTERS
At the same time, Putin hopes that “these are request positions and it will be possible to agree on positions”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has branded as unacceptable the conditions Kyiv has put forward for the signing of a new contract for Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukraine.
"I constantly repeat that we are ready to preserve Ukrainian transit, we are currently negotiating this in Vienna. This is no secret. However, possible conditions that Ukrainian transmitters put forward to us are economically unacceptable. For now. But I hope that these are the offer positions, and it will be possible to coordinate positions," Putin said at a joint press conference with Serbian President Alexander Vucic, an UNIAN correspondent in Russia reports.
Read alsoUkraine-Russia ministerial consultations on gas transit held in coordination with Europe – Naftogaz
As UNIAN reported earlier, Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine, Oleksiy Orzhel, admitted that the next round of tripartite gas talks between Ukraine, Russia and the European Union will take place on December 5.
On November 15, Putin announced his readiness to reduce gas prices for Ukraine by 20-25%.
To this, Naftogaz Executive Director Yuriy Vitrenko responded that the gas price offered by Russia is not a discount, since in direct deliveries, Gazprom does not pay for its transmission.
At the same time, Vitrenko emphasized that the discount of 20-25%, taking into account future volumes of gas imports, would not be able to realistically compensate for Ukraine's giving up on $3 billion that Gazprom must pay in line with the Stockholm arbitration award.
On December 2, Orzhel said that Ukraine, in negotiations on gas transit after 2020, will tie the issue of direct gas supplies from Russia to the issue of Gazprom paying Ukraine as ordered by the Stockholm arbitration chamber.