The office of European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger told Ukrinform on Tuesday, commenting on the statement by Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov that Russia will ensure the transit of gas to Europe via Ukraine, provided that a bilateral consortium to manage the Ukrainian gas transit system is created without the participation of the European Union. “The EU firmly believes that it is in Ukraine's own sovereign interest that any deal reached is in accordance with Ukraine's Energy Community commitments: Membership in the Energy Community is an engagement to work towards economically viable, competitive, transparent, sustainable and integrated energy markets that will attract the necessary investments. It will allow to protect Ukraine's energy security against the consequences of an anti-competitive energy market reliant on one major external supplier, and the work on reverse flows of gas from the EU to Ukraine is a clear example of this,” the European Commission said in a statement. The European Commissioner for Energy's office has reiterated that the EU is willing, if Ukraine and Russia so wish, to enter into tripartite consultations on gas transit at any time.   MORE