Russia and the EU prepare the Ukraine for winter

Russia and the EU have agreed on how Russian gas will be supplied to the Ukraine this winter. Brussels will still allocate $500 million to Kiev, for which it will pump extra 2 billion cubic meters of Russian gas in its underground gas storage facilities by mid-October. Moscow, for its part, will give a discount to Kiev till the end of winter – according to the Kommersant’s assessment, it will be small. Now, these conditions must be approved by the Ukrainian authorities - a tripartite meeting could take place this week.

By results of the talks that were held in Vienna last Friday and in which the Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, head of Gazprom Alexei Miller and the European Commission’s Vice President Maroš Šefčovič took part, a new draft protocol of "winter package" on gas supplies to the Ukraine was prepared.