Kiev does not intend to discuss direct gas supply with Russia, says Ukrainian PM – Business & Economy

KIEV, October 5. / TASS /. The Zelensky administration will not hold direct negotiations with Moscow on the supply of Russian gas to Ukraine, the country’s Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said on Tuesday in an interview with Ukrainian newspaper Levy Bereg (Left Bank).

When asked if Kiev was considering direct talks with Russia on gas supplies, for example, if a very cold winter sets in, he replied: “We don’t intend to. [to hold] such negotiations. “

Yuri Boiko, co-leader of the opposition platform for life, told Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) on Monday that the country should follow in Hungary’s footsteps and return to direct supply contracts in gas with Gazprom.

Asked if Moscow and Kiev could return to the negotiating table over Russia’s direct deliveries to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied that Moscow considered gas deliveries from Russia to Ukraine were a matter of economic viability. He added that Moscow had never refuted the possibility of negotiations on this issue.

On October 1, Gazprom began supplying gas to Hungary under a long-term contract via the Balkan Stream gas pipeline (an extension of TurkStream) and pipelines in south-eastern Europe. According to the gas giant, two contracts have been signed, with a total volume of up to 4.5 billion cubic meters per year, with the duration of each contract being 15 years.

On the same day, the operator of Ukraine’s gas transmission network announced that the transit of Russian natural gas to Hungary via Ukraine had been suspended. It was also reported that Kiev has lost imports from Hungary through the “virtual reverse flow” due to the end of the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine to the Hungarian side.