Brussels, Kyiv Call For Russia To Join Warsaw Gas Talks

EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger (right) and Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan attend a press briefing after a meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels last month.

EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger says the European Commission and Ukraine have asked Russian officials to meet in Warsaw on May 2 to discuss natural gas supplies.

Yuriy Prodan, Ukraine’s minister of energy and coal mining, met Oettinger in Bratislava on April 28 during the signing a memorandum between Slovakia’s Eustream and Ukrtransgaz on reverse natural-gas supplies.

Under that process, gas bought by Slovakia at a lower price than Ukraine is now being charged by Russia would be resold to Kyiv by Slovakia after passing through Ukraine’s pipeline network.

In Warsaw, officials from Brussels and Kyiv reportedly plan to discuss the legal aspects of reserve supplies -- which is not envisaged under current Gazprom contracts.

Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s envoy to the European Union, says Moscow intends to have "detailed talks on the whole situation in the energy sphere."
Based on reporting by Reuters, ITAR-TASS, and Interfax