Ukraine president Hopes to Reach Compromise on Russian Gas Deliveries on Wednesday. (RN).
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the compromise on gas deliveries is "most likely" to be reached at the trilateral Russia-Ukraine-EU talks on Wednesday.
"I note that already on Wednesday we most likely will reach the compromise on gas. We have made significant progress," Poroshenko said on air of Ukraine's First National TV Channel late on Saturday.
Poroshenko reminded that Ukraine filed a lawsuit with the Stockholm arbitration court requesting a review of its gas contract with Russia's Gazprom. "Only the court will tell how big the debt really is and what is the real price," Poroshenko said.
Poroshenko added that Ukraine has reserved $3.1 billion of its debt to pay to Russia if the agreement is reached. "No one is asking us to pay more than $3.1 billion which we have and which we have reserved and will pay if the agreement is reached," Ukrainian President said.
The gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine became especially acute when Russian energy giant Gazprom switched Kiev to a prepayment system for gas supplies in June over Ukraine's gas debt of more than $5 billion.
In September, Russia and the European Commission proposed the so-called winter package, according to which Ukraine should pay $3.1 billion of its debt to Russia by the end of the year in exchange for gas deliveries during the winter period. Following the trilateral Russia-Ukraine-EU talks in Brussels on October 21, Ukraine had agreed to the temporary price of $385 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas during winter.
Russia and Ukraine are expected to hold the final round of talks, mediated by the European Commission, in Brussels on October 29.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed hope that a temporary agreement to end a long-running gas dispute with Ukraine would be reached as early as next week. Hmmm....If Ukraine starts siphoning European gas all bets will be off.
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