Businessweek: Russia-Ukraine Interim Gas Deal Sought by EU Amid Fights

The European Union will prod Russia to strike a temporary deal with Ukraine to allow natural-gas flows to resume while a court reviews arbitration cases.

As winter looms in Europe, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger plans to discuss the proposal with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak in Moscow today, he said yesterday in an interview in Berlin. The temporary agreement could stay in place until an international court rules in the cases filed by OAO Gazprom and NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy, Oettinger said.

“Our gas relationship and partnership started in times of the Cold War,” he said. Now, the court in Stockholm “has to check these issues and come to a decision. It needs 12 or 15 months. We have to accept this process, but we should use this time in parallel.”
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