According to the president, commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline does not mean that Russia will refuse to transit gas through Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed hope that Russian and Ukrainian companies would find a mutually acceptable solution for gas transit to European countries. This was stated by the Russian leader at the meeting with German business representatives.
“We are now, as you know, negotiating with our Ukrainian partners, they are held in Vienna, so I see that both sides sound request positions, I will say frankly, quite difficult to implement”, – said Putin. – “But I hope that the participants of these negotiations, and these are, first of all, economic entities from both sides, will find acceptable solutions for them”.
Putin assured that the commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline does not mean that Russia will refuse to transit gas through Ukraine. According to him, this is a matter of economic expediency. “Now we are close to the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the commissioning of which will double the volume of possible Russian gas supplies via the Baltic Sea Route”, – the president said, stressing that this will make an additional contribution to meeting demand in Germany and other countries.
“I would like to emphasize that this is a purely commercial project, the government does not actually take part in it, and so that there is no interpretation, I have already spoken about it many times, and I want to say it once again – it does not mean that Russia intends to stop transit through the territory of Ukraine”, – Putin said.
The head of state stressed that the conversation about gas transit is directly related to economic expediency. “It is not a question of territory, it is a question of economic expediency”, – the Russian president stressed.