MOSCOW - The date of trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the EU on the gas issue will be determined next week, a representative of the Russian Energy Ministry told Interfax.
He said that the sides had reached a corresponding understanding.
Earlier on Wednesday Ukraine’s Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Prodan said that the trilateral meeting had been tentatively set for Oct. 3. A bilateral Ukraine-European Commission meeting will take place on Thursday, he said.
“The Brussels meeting will be on Oct. 2 – a bilateral meeting with the EC. The trilateral one will probably be (held) on Friday,” he told reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday.
“With regard to the debts (owed to Russia for the natural gas). These are not debts, these are payments. It is not a question of debts – it is a question of our payments. We have our own proposals. The final decision has yet to be made. There are EC proposals and we have ours, several other proposals,” Prodan added.
Earlier Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak did not rule out that the next Russia-Ukraine-EC meeting over gas transit and supplies to Ukraine will be held around Oct. 2-3. The meeting will most likely take place in Berlin, he added.
The previous gas meeting in this format was held in Berlin on Sept. 26.
