Merkel: Ukraine to continue gas transit after launch of N Stream-2

TBILISI, Aug 24 (PRIME) -- Ukraine will continue to transit Russian gas to Europe after the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project is launched, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday.

“We will discuss that Ukraine should have legal and fair claims for gas transit… The Nord Stream(-2) project generally depends on the fact that a certain part of it will be located in Russia, which will make the situation easier…. Of course, Ukraine will stay a transit state from this point of view,” she said.

“We cannot withdraw from cooperation with Russia in the oil and gas sector. Of course, we can receive gas from Azerbaijan or Turkmenistan, but the truth is that we cannot have gas from the U.S. at the same price as from Russia. I am of course not against trade relations with Russia in this direction so we may be able to solve Ukraine’s and Georgia’s problems.”

President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that the president told Merkel that Russia will retain gas transit via Ukraine in the future.

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