Merkel says Ukraine must keep transit of Russian gas

BERLIN, Dec 18 (PRIME) – The E.U. demands that Ukraine should not lose its importance as a transit country for Russian gas exports, as condition for further discussions of Russian pipeline projects, including the Nord Stream, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a news conference Friday following a meeting of the E.U. Council.

The council has discussed the Nord Stream and the South Stream, and Merkel together with partners stressed out that these projects are economic. The European Commission is now discussing the projects’ legal basis with national regulators.

But Merkel also said that a decision that will not make Ukraine lose its importance as a transit country must be found, she said.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he is not sure that gas transit through Ukraine should be suspended, and the main issue here is whether Ukraine is able to cooperate with Russia just like gas giant Gazprom’s partners cooperate with the company under the Nord Stream project.

Previously, Gazprom has repeatedly said that the company is very unlikely to prolong the transit contract with Ukraine after 2019 on unprofitable conditions. Ukraine said it wanted to raise the transit fee to U.S. $5 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas from the current $2.7.

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