European Commission urges Ukraine, Russia to resume gas talks

Vice-President of the European Commission for the Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said this in a statement released on the eve of his meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman in Brussels, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"Constructive and stable cooperation between Russia and Ukraine in the field of energy is of utmost importance for the European Union. In this context, I have always underlined the need for a continued, long-term transit of Russian gas through Ukraine to the EU in a reliable and commercially viable way. Therefore, I have reached out to both, Ukrainian and Russian partners, and invited them for trilateral talks which in the past, proved to be effective in reaching tangible, successful results," Sefcovic said.

According to him, such talks, supported by the EU member states, should start as soon as possible in order to take stock of the gas matters important for involved parties and to look into gas transit via Ukraine beyond 2019.

As reported, at the end of March, Nord Stream 2, a company whose founder and sole shareholder is Gazprom, received permission to build a section of the gas pipeline in the waters of the German exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea. The Government of Finland permitted the construction of the gas pipeline in its exclusive economic zone. The construction of the disputed gas pipeline section began in Germany in early May.

Nord Stream 2 intends to complete the construction of the gas pipeline by the end of 2019. About 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year is to be supplied via this pipeline from Russia to Germany.

Ukraine, the Baltic States and Poland strongly protest against the construction of Nord Stream 2.

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