Delegations of Ukraine and the European Commission following the regular trilateral meeting on gas issues including Russia in Brussels presented the common position over a contract on Russian gas transit through Ukraine starting from January 1, 2020, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported.

"Now we have a common position with the European Commission: a new contract should be long-term with fixed transit volume sufficient to ensure secure operation of Ukraine's GTS. The contract should be concluded with Ukraine's new transmission system operator (TSO), which is to be unbundled from Naftogaz group since January 1, 2020. Future relations between the new Ukrainian GTS and Gazprom should be based on European energy law being implemented in Ukraine as an Energy Community member," the ministry reported on Facebook late on October 28.

According to the ministry, the Gazprom follows the same principles on cooperation with all its counterparties in the EU.

"We are grateful to the Commission for perseverance and hope for a constructive approach by the Russian side during the next round of negotiations. For its part, Naftogaz is ready to intensify the discussion in a trilateral format at all levels in order to achieve the result as soon as possible," the ministry said.