Russia signs preliminary Gas Transit Deal with Ukraine amid difficulties

Russia and Ukraine have signed a preliminary gas transit deal for the passage of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine after months of negotiations ahead of the New Year deadline. The current gas transit contract between the two nations will expire at the end of the year. The bilateral ties between the two nations have irked since Moscow annexed  Crimea in 2014 and stood with the separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine. According to the spokesperson for Russian gas giant Gazprom, both the nations have signed a memorandum of understanding.

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40 per cent of natural gas passes through Ukraine

Alexander Novak, Russia's Energy Minister said it was a five-year contract that would be signed off before the end of the month. The authorities of Ukraine have confirmed the deal on Facebook. They said the complete details would be made public on Saturday. Gazprom supplied Europe with 200.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas last year. About 40 per cent of the natural gas passes through Ukraine which gains the country of around $3 billion (2.7 billion euros) a year in transit fees. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia said on Thursday that Moscow wants to keep some gas flowing through Keiv despite the construction of several pipelines to Europe since the deal was given a nod ten years ago. Russia's gas pipelines include the Nord Stream 2 project which seeks to expand its gas volumes to Germany.

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The trilateral meeting

A trilateral meeting was held on Thursday in Berlin which involves Russia, Ukraine, and the European Union. The nations reached an 'agreement in principle' according to European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic and the negotiations continued Friday in Belarus. The problems for free passage of Russian gas started after the fall of the Soviet Union when an independent Ukraine won control of the pipeline infrastructure. The recent contract between both the nations was signed following the last gas crisis that resulted in disrupting European supplies in 2010.
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