The scheme for reverse gas supplies from Europe to Ukraine is absolutely legal and complies with international law, Deputy Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of the country Vladimir Makukha told reporters on Tuesday.

According to Makukha, gas leaves the country and then comes back. “This is an absolutely legal and clean scheme - gas crosses the border of Ukraine,” he emphasized. At the same time, he admitted that the scheme voiced by the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, is being implemented in practice, however, according to him, it complies with international standards. “There are no problems here, otherwise Ukraine would not agree to this - to any mechanisms that would not comply with international law,” said the Ukrainian deputy minister.

The head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller , said on Saturday that Ukraine’s reverse purchases of gas from Europe “resemble fraudulent schemes.” “That is, Gazprom’s gas enters Europe and immediately turns to Ukraine. It’s not just pumped in: it’s calcined at the border, and at the gas measuring station it’s supposedly shown that certain volumes of Gazprom’s gas are being supplied to Europe in reverse mode, and, accordingly, to the European market,” Miller said.

Kiev believes that the scheme it uses confirms that the price of Russian fuel for Ukraine is too high, because Gazprom gas purchased in Europe after crossing the Ukrainian border costs Naftogaz 7% cheaper than direct imports from Russia.

In recent years, Ukraine has been negotiating with Russia to revise the price of gas, which it considers too high. At the same time, it is looking for alternative sources of supply. Earlier, in response to Gazprom’s plans to reduce the transit of Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine and the refusal to reduce the price of gas, Kyiv began using its gas transportation capacities in the reverse direction. On Thursday, Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov announced the start of reverse supplies of natural gas through Hungary.

Ukraine called the gas reversal scheme from the European Union legal