OREANDA-NEWS. The Ukrainian authorities are ready to extend the contract with Gazprom for gas transit, but they must receive clearer guarantees that the transit will be preserved. This was stated by the chairman of the Management Board of Naftogaz, Yuri Vitrenko, following the results of negotiations with the German side. His words are quoted by Russian media RIA Novosti.

Vitrenko stressed that Kiev is ready to negotiate with Gazprom, but the extension of the contract does not provide sufficient guarantees for maintaining transit through Ukraine. According to the head of the company, this requires contracts with European companies.

«The volumes that are now going through Ukraine should be transferred to contracts with European companies for the long term. Thus, we must obtain guarantees that the transit will be saved», the head of Naftogaz said.

Earlier it became known that Gazprom can substitute Ukraine and expose it as an unreliable gas supplier in Europe in a simple way. According to Yuri Vitrenko, a Russian company can launch a different amount of gas every day — either huge, or negligibly small. He specified that the solution to the problem will be the transfer of the access point from the western border of Ukraine to the border with Russia. In this case, Gazprom will have to be directly responsible for it's actions to the EU.