November 26, 2019, 20:05 / Politics

For the first time, the Kremlin directly discussed with Kiev the problem of ending gas contracts

Ukraine insists on a trilateral format of negotiations with the participation of Brussels Artur Toporkov Ivan Safronov

Press service of the President of Russia

The first detailed conversation between the Presidents of Russia and Ukraine Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky about the supply of Russian gas to Ukraine and the continuation of its transit through Ukraine took place on Monday, November 25, the reported Kremlin website . Among other things, “gas issues were discussed in detail, including the issues of continuing transit and resuming direct supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine,” the Kremlin website reported late on Monday, without providing details - except for one thing: that the conversation took place on Zelensky’s initiative.

“We have very difficult relations with Russia. We have started a dialogue that will be continued in the Normandy format at a meeting of the leaders of four states,” Vladimir Zelensky commented on the conversation on Tuesday, November 26, during a trip to Estonia (quoted by Interfax ). – We discussed the issue that the year is ending and we all need to agree on signing a new long-term gas agreement, a transit agreement. This is a priority for us, and not only for Ukraine, it is energy security for the whole of Europe.”

The conversation between the two presidents took place a little more than a month before the end of the contract between Gazprom and Naftogaz for direct gas supplies to Ukraine and gas transit through its territory. The problem of extending these agreements or concluding new ones is the subject of complex trilateral negotiations, which have been going on in Brussels for more than a year with varying degrees of intensity at the initiative of the European Commission.

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Since September, meetings at the ministerial level have moved to a monthly schedule, but have not yet brought any results. Mutual legal claims between Ukraine and Gazprom are interfering. Naftogaz and Ukrainian regulators expect to recover about $22 billion from the Russian company for several claims and do not intend to abandon the claims. Russia proposes to begin by nullifying all claims, and then negotiate. The last round of negotiations took place a month ago, and it was not possible to agree even on the next meeting. There was hope for the end of November, said Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, but now we are talking about the beginning of December, Interfax reports.

During his conversation with Putin, Zelensky insisted on continuing gas negotiations in the trilateral Ukraine-Russia-EU format, says a person familiar with the results of the conversation between the presidents: “Zelensky is counting on the support of European partners in this situation.” Putin’s position is known, the interlocutor continues: the continuation of transit and the resumption of direct supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine directly depends on the settlement of disputes between Naftogaz and Gazprom. Options for resolving the situation can indeed be brought up for discussion on December 9 at a meeting in the Normandy format, where, in addition to Putin and Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be present, the interlocutor expects.

On Tuesday, November 26, following a conversation with Zelensky, Putin held a meeting with Novak and Gazprom Chairman Alexei Miller. In the open part of the conversation, a report of which is on the website kremlin.ru, there is not a word about the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine. At the meeting, “issues of Russian-Ukrainian interaction in the energy sector were separately considered,” but without details.

“It was clear that we couldn’t do without a conversation at the highest level,” says Alexey Grivach, deputy director of the National Energy Security Fund. – The topic is politicized, there are many aspects and vectors. Therefore, the very fact of the beginning of the dialogue is very positive.” But no breakthrough in trilateral negotiations should be expected before the meeting on December 9, Grivach believes. Whether any new instructions were given to Novak and Miller, or whether the president simply conveyed to them the contents of the conversation with Zelensky, will most likely be obvious from further developments, the expert concludes.