OREANDA-NEWS. The date of the trilateral ministerial meeting on gas from Russia, the EU and Ukraine to agree on the conditions for the supply and transit of Russian gas to the EU from January 1, 2020 hasn't been agreed yet. "The European Commission is working on its holding during December", the European Commission representative said at a briefing in Brussels on Thursday.

"The EU welcomes the direct gas talks between Russia and Ukraine and is working on a tripartite ministerial meeting during December", the EC representative said in response to a question on the date of ministerial consultations. Earlier it was reported that trilateral consultations could take place on December 5, if Gazprom and Naftogaz were ready for them. However, this date wasn't confirmed by all parties and consultations didn't take place.

At a future meeting, the parties plan to discuss the conditions for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine from 2020 and direct gas supplies to the country. Existing contracts for the supply and transit of Russian gas through Ukraine expire on December 31. By this time, Russia plans to launch two gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine - the Nord Stream-2 and the Turkish Stream. Ukraine, in turn, has obligations to introduce European energy legislation by the end of this year.