(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Russian and Ukrainian energy ministers Wednesday ended another round of the EU-mediated talks where without any agreement on the gas price. Ukraine Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan told reporters that he could not accept a Russian offer of USD 385 per 1,000 cubic metres.
"Unfortunately Russia proposed a way of fixing the price which I would call political. We cannot accept this price mechanism," he said, adding that Ukraine would continue to make "appropriate payments" to cover outstanding bills and new deliveries.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak stressed to reporters that in the negotiations that began in April until today "we have continued to meet our obligations during this whole period in terms of supplying gas for EU consumers and supplying gas for Ukraine. " "Nevertheless, it is our view that we do need to bring this consultations to a close," he said and added the Russia "had made an important gesture in giving the talks extra time to Monday to reach an agreement, failing which the company would then demand pre-payment for gas." "We are now waiting for action from Ukraine," Novak said.
On his part, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said: "Our Ukrainian partners have two objections, first of all, the price of USD 385 is not in line with market prices so the price is still too high and the second objection was that this would be a decision taken by the Russian government so this could be withdrawn at any time so this don't provide them any certainty with regard to a planning for the gas partnership." "We should use our remaining days to our advantage. We are still in negotiations," he said.
"I can see movement on both sides and both sides will need to continue to move," he added.
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