Sun, Nov 08 2009

Gas crisis: Russia to resume natural gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine on January 13

Mon, Jan 12 2009 17:01 CET 176 Views

Russia will resume supplies of natural gas to Europe via Ukraine in the morning hours of January 13 2009, the BBC quoted the Czech presidency of the EU on January 12 2009. The BBC also quoted Alexander Medvedev, deputy chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom as saying in Brussels: "If there are no obstacles... gas supplies will be restarted at 8am".

The news came after Russia, Ukraine and the EU singed under a deal for resuming the gas supplies. According to various estimates, it would take Bulgaria 48 hours to feel the result of the resumed gas supplies that were halted on January 6 2009.

Earlier in the day, the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Říman was quoted as saying by the website of the Czech EU presidency that Russia had no reason not to restore gas supply to EU.

"The terms of reference signed during the weekend are valid. Russian representatives stipulated two conditions - the terms of reference had to be signed by all parties and the observers had to be deployed at the monitoring points," he said.

"Both conditions were fulfilled. The monitors are in place and Ukraine re-signed the terms of reference this morning without making a reference to any unilateral declaration," Říman noted.

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