Brussels - The European Commission's financial guarantees concerning Ukraine's payments for Russian natural gas will be included in a bilateral protocol, Russian gas giant Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said.
“As far as the financial issues are concerned, and as for the guarantees the European Commission will grant to Ukraine, these commitments will be documented in a bilateral protocol,” Miller said.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, for his part, noted that Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission would also sign a trilateral protocol and an additional agreement to the contract between Naftogaz of Ukraine and Gazprom. These documents will be technical and will regulate the implementation of these agreements, he added.
“It is possible to say that the main parameters that will form the core of these documents [the trilateral protocol and additional agreement to the Naftogaz-Gazprom deal] have already been agreed upon. Agreements have also been secured concerning the price, debt restructuring mechanisms, prepayment and our partners’ willingness to receive a certain amount of gas in November and December. The documents that will be signed are now being fine-tuned from a technical standpoint,” Novak said.
Miller, for his part, added that the sides could sign these documents only if Kyiv and the European Commission managed to agree upon a bilateral protocol pledging the commission’s financial guarantees for Ukraine.
“If such an agreement is not secure, no meetings and negotiations will be held, and no documents will be signed,” the Gazprom head said.
