Russia Ready to Consider Gas Supplies via Ukraine After 2020
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic that Russia was ready to consider using Ukraine as a gas transit route after 2020, the energy ministry said on Wednesday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that a gas pipeline planned to run from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea could not go ahead without clarity on Ukraine's role as a transit route for gas, appearing to harden her stance on the scheme.
The Russian energy ministry said in a statement that Novak and Sefcovic had spoken by telephone and discussed the delivery of Russian gas to European markets.
Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva
