A delay in unbundling by national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy puts under threat the signing of new long lasting contract on transit of Russian gas across Ukraine, and the immediate steps should be made today, Energy Community Secretariat Director Janez Kopac has said.

"The EU in trilateral talks with Russia cannot help if it doesn't have a key argument for long lasting transit contract, certified transmission system operator," he said in a video address to the participants of the meeting of stakeholders in Brussels on November 29 and published by the Energy Community on Monday.

Kopac said that the immediate action is needed to convince all colleagues in Brussels, Washington, Stockholm that Ukraine is better than Nord Stream 2. "Now we need to make sure that nobody in Russia or elsewhere can accuse Ukraine of applying double standard when it comes to insisting on the rule of the Third Energy Package.

"The most important token to justify trust in Ukraine in this respect is unbundling, but real unbundling, not in line with a plan and timeline devised by Naftogaz. There are many plans of Naftogaz from the past. All of them are completed outdated," he said.

"Unbundling should be designed in a way that the transmission system operator can be certified before the end of next year," Kopac said.

Kopac said that if the certified gas transmission system operator does not exist by the end of next year, Gazprom would most probably prolong the current contract for a very short time and try to bypass Ukraine with gas transit at the earliest convenience.