Maros Sefcovic / www.svoboda.org
Vice President of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic has urged Ukrainian and Russian energy ministers to implement the so-called Winter Protocol on gas supplies, according to an UNIAN correspondent in Brussels.
“I remain confident that the Parties will stick to their commitments made in the Binding Protocol [initialed on September 25 in Brussels]. This being said, the European Commission is ready to assist both sides in the full implementation of the Binding Protocol, by continuing to play its role as facilitator of this trilateral process,” reads a statement by Sefcovic.
“I have sent letters to the Ministers of Energy of the Russian Federation and Ukraine calling on the Parties to start implementing the agreement without any further delay. This is of particular importance because of the approaching winter period and the need to still further fill in the Ukrainian underground storage facilities before the end of October and thereby ensure secure delivery of gas to the Ukrainian consumers as well as safe transit to the EU,” Sefcovic said.
“The European Commission has helped over the past few months in mobilising necessary financing for gas purchases in Ukraine and will continue these efforts over the coming months,” said the Vice President of the European Commission.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Naftogaz has transferred on Friday an advance payment to Gazprom for supply of Russian gas. The volume of gas to be purchased from Russia in October amounts to 2 billion cubic meters.