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Russia Will Honour Its Gas Commitments to Europe, Says Foreign Minister

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 December 2005, 12:00 CST

Text of report by Russian news agency RIA Novosti

Moscow, 20 December: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is convinced that Russia will honour its commitments in supplying gas to Europe. Lavrov said this on Tuesday [20 December] at a briefing in Moscow while commenting on talks on Russian gas supply to Ukraine.

"These talks are under way, primarily between the relevant companies of the two countries, but I am convinced that the good tradition of both Gazprom and Russia always honouring their commitments to consumers in Europe will continue," Lavrov said.

He recalled that the talks are based on a proposal which Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko put forward at the beginning of the year.

Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, who is visiting Moscow, made the following comment in connection with the situation which developed in relations between Russia and Ukraine.

"The Czech Republic has no plans of getting involved in these relations in any way. We look at Ukraine as a country in the run-up to an election, and we expect this election to be transparent and democratic," he said.

Svoboda said that the Czech Republic, as a member of the European Union, is interested in backing Ukraine's orientation towards Europe. Lavrov said that the Ukrainian election "does not change anything geographically".

"Russia will continue to live next to Ukraine. And we would like to understand how to do this without any contradictions whatsoever to any rapprochement between both Russia and Ukraine and the European Union," the Russian minister said.

Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

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