Russia is read for trilateral gas talks with the European Commission and Ukraine in the first half of September, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters.
Earlier the European Commission’s Vice President Maros Sefcovic suggested holding a trilateral meeting from September 16 to 23. “We have had an invitation to meet from European Commission’s Vice President Sefcovic. Either September 16 or perhaps on some other dates. We’ll talk about it. I think it’ll be agreed soon,” Novak said.
“We’re ready to meet in the first half of September. It’s just that we have a certain schedule, the monitoring committee in Abu Dhabi, other events. But we need to choose a time when everybody is able to meet at once,” he said.
One of the main issues remains who will represent Ukraine at the talks. Foreign Minister Pavlo did at the last talks. Russia has insisted that the Ukraine energy minister conduct gas talks.
The Ukraine parliament on August 29 confirmed Oleksiy Orzhel as Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection. It is not yet known whether he will conduct the trilateral gas talks.
Novak refrained from commenting on Orzhel’s appointment. “We have not yet had contact,” he said.
