Ukraine seeks to return to trilateral gas talks with Russia, European Commission

"The issue was raised at the recent talks of the Ukrainian prime minister with European Commission Vice-President [Maros] Sefcovic. We hope we will return to the trilateral format of the talks with Russians. It could have some effect," CEO of Ukraine's state oil and gas company Naftogaz Andriy Kobolev said in a TV commentary Wednesday evening. He reiterated that Ukraine currently does not import Russian gas, since there is no agreement with that country's monopolist Gazprom. Naftogaz believes it is impossible to resume imports of Russian gas without a new or supplementary contract. Kobolev said Ukraine is able to accumulate around 14.5 billion cubic meters of gas in storages by the start of the heating season without renewal of gas supplies from Russia. However, the possibility of importing gas not only from Europe, but also from Russia via the signing of a supplementary agreement would be good for us, he said. He added that at present the company uses own funds to import gas from the European Union and pumps it to underground storage facilities, but two loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank are to be received for these purposes in the coming months.