OREANDA-NEWS. The priority issue of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine is the supply of gas under a direct contract, the discount for Kiev also depends on this. This was announced by Gazprom Chairman Alexei Miller, the Kremlin press service reports. “The issue of the transit agreement is extremely important, but still the primary question is whether Ukraine will buy gas under a direct contract”, Miller said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to the expert, this also depends on the exact amount of goz the company can guarantee for supply to Ukraine. The head of Gazprom also noted that in the case of concluding a direct agreement on gas supplies to Ukraine, the price for it for the final Ukrainian consumer may become 25% lower than the current level.

“Without a doubt, the main issue, I emphasize, is the supply of gas to the Ukrainian market. This is a matter of bilateral negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, added Miller. The current contract for gas transit through Ukraine expires on December 31, 2019. In late July, Energy Minister Alexander Novak announced that Russia had proposed Ukraine to extend the transit contract for another year. He specified that Kiev hadn't responded to this idea yet.

In August, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry noted that they are continuing to develop a memorandum on energy issues, which should become the "foundation" for further actions in the field of concluding a new contract for the transit of Russian gas. Earlier it was reported that Moscow proposed Kiev to extend the existing gas transit contract for a year on existing conditions, the Ukrainian side has not yet responded. This was announced by Minister of Energy of Russia Alexander Novak, reports the Russian media.