Naftogaz ends bilateral talks with Gazprom, ready for trilateral talks – Naftogaz top manager

18:57, 06.12.2019 1 min read

 NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy has ended bilateral talks with Russia's Gazprom on gas transit and is ready for trilateral talks, Naftogaz Ukrainy Executive Officer Yuriy Vitrenko said on its Facebook page late on Friday.

According to him, at the request of the European Commission, the possibility of resolving issues of the past and current Stockholm arbitration lawsuits was discussed, since Gazprom includes this in a "package" for transit negotiations.

"In order to show our constructiveness, we said that we were ready to consider the possibility of receiving gas from Gazprom to pay off debt under the award of the previous Stockholm arbitration ($3 billion). We are also ready to withdraw our claims in the new arbitration, but only if a long-term [gas] transit contract is signed that will cover all expenses, and if Naftogaz is compensated for Gazprom's failure to fulfill its obligations under current contracts," Vitrenko said.

"Now we are ready to return to the trilateral talks and tell the Europeans how we honestly and conscientiously discussed these issues," he said.