OREANDA-NEWS. On October 28, the third round of tripartite consultations on Russian gas supplies to Europe via the territory of Ukraine took place in Brussels.

TASS information agency reports citing the Ministry of Energy of Russia that the consultations ended in 80 minutes, which is twice as long as the previous meeting of the parties.

The Minister of Energy of Russia Alexander Novak, the head of Gazprom company Alexey Miller, the Vice-President of the European Commission for the Energy Union Affairs Maros Sefcovic, the Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine Oleksiy Orzhel and the head of Naftagaz company Andriy Kobolyev took part in it.

RBC agency cites the comments of the representative of Russia Alexander Novak who said: “In general, we see that both the European Commission and Ukrainian partners are constructive. We will continue our interaction.” “In the near future we will have to intensify our contacts at the level of Ukrainian companies and Gazprom regarding the development of the most acceptable rules for the interaction of operators,” the Minister of Energy added. According to the politician, the important issues discussed at the meeting were related to the settlement of litigation with Naftogaz. “We believe that these issues should be resolved in a package, including the supply of Russian gas directly to Ukrainian consumers, bypassing the reverse,” he said.

The representative of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic stated that Kiev is ready for a discussion on a package decision, including direct purchases of Russian gas and an amicable agreement on a judicial dispute. At the same time, Sefcovic said that he was disappointed with the talks, but he is not going to give up. The politician said that in the end of the meeting the participants had gained a better understanding of what can be done in future. The European Commissioner emphasized that time is slipping away and called on all negotiators to be constructive.