The Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn spoke of the possibility of starting Naftogaz Ukrainy purchase of Russian gas from Gazprom without signing a trilateral gas protocol between Russia, Ukraine, and the EU.
“There is such a possibility,” he told reporters after a cabinet minister meeting in Kyiv on Oct. 7, commenting on the statement by the Russian side on such possible deliveries.
He said that at the present there are four variants of practical organizations of purchases being discussed, an agreement in principle about which was reached in the tripartite negotiations in Brussels on Sept. 25 and the above mentioned variant was one of those
Demchyshyn said that a solution to the issue would be found soon.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said many times after September 25 that a formal signing for the winter package was not needed anymore and to begin deliveries the only thing that was needed was payment from Naftogaz for gas.
At the same time the Ukrainian side after initialing the agreement for the terms of the winter package originally demanded its final signature to remove the remaining risks of disruption in supplies.
