EU Hopes for Moscow-Kiev Talks in July

European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic says he hopes to arrange a mediation meeting with Russia and Ukraine to discuss gas transits via Ukraine once the contract for the latter lapses 2019.

Sefcovic, the EC's energy chief, tweeted June 14: "Time is a precious commodity. I hope to start working with Russia and Ukraine on the trilateral gas agenda in early July. Complex negotiations ahead."   The tweet linked through to a short interview given to Reuters.

Russia is seeking to develop more direct pipeline capacity to Europe, such as Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream, that could make Ukraine redundant as a transit country for Russian exports to the European Union. German chancellor Angela Merkel last month sought a guarantee from the Kremlin that it will continue to flow gas via Ukraine, but received merely assurances without any concrete pledge.