Prime Minister of Ukraine Aleksey Goncharuk said that negotiations with the Russian side on gas are ongoing, a day or two is still needed.
“I won’t comment on the gas issue now, because negotiations are still ongoing. I understand the interest in this topic. Give us another day or two,” Goncharenko said at a briefing on Friday.
On Friday, delegations from Russia and Ukraine are negotiating in Vienna to implement the protocol on gas cooperation signed last week. The protocol, in particular, assumes that in order to continue transit, Gazprom will conclude an inter-operator agreement with the Ukrainian GTS Operator, and with Naftogaz an agreement under which it will reserve capacities for transporting 65 billion cubic meters of gas in 2020 and 40 billion each cubes in the years 2021-2024.
The protocol of December 20 also includes an agreement on the settlement of legal differences. The companies will sign an agreement on Gazprom paying $ 2.9 billion in favor of Naftogaz according to decisions already made by the Stockholm Arbitration Court and on the refusal of the parties to sue for which there is no final verdict, and the Ukrainian government will sign an amicable agreement with Gazprom to withdraw antitrust claims of 7.4 billion dollars.