Moscow Proposes Ashgabat Negotiate Without Kyiv

At the Ashgabat talks the leadership of the Russian government delegation officially offered Turkmenistan a joint gas and oil transport company to supply natural gas to Ukraine, reports the Caspian Information Agency. Incidentally, Ukraine is not participating.

Turkmenistan has unveiled plans to supply 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Ukraine next year. The Ukrainian government views the terms of Turkmenistan gas supplies as more advantageous than the Russian terms, as 50% of payment for gas can be made in the form of goods and services. Simultaneously, supplies of Turkmenistan gas are complicated by the fact that the transit oil pipeline runs through the territory of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. This year’s volume of supplies has been set at 30 billion cubic meters. But since early July, Itera has reduced the transit of Turkmenistan gas by 50% to 1.3 billion cubic meters per month. The drop in supply was attributed to the inability to pay the transit through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which is due to the nonpayment of debts by Ukrainian enterprises. According to Itera, electric companies account for most of the debt.