The contract for gas supply transit between Russia and Ukraine will expire in 2019 and if not renewed Russian gas might not flow through the Bratstvo gas pipeline through Slovakia to Europe anymore, European Commission vice-chair for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic told TABLET.TV on Friday.

"Such stances had really resounded from the mouths of Russian officials. I'm very glad that now the discussion has shifted since then. Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent announcements have been altered and the need to maintain the transit through Ukraine has been mentioned," emphasized Sefcovic, according to whom the gas transit through Ukraine is a strategic priority for the European Union.

Compared to the 2009 gas crisis the EU is now better prepared for a possible outage of gas supplies from the east.

"Tests of gas pipelines' connections, in case of a dropout of Russian gas for six months, showed that we're better prepared than in the past," according to Sefcovic.

"We have new connections, better methods of gas storage management and we have diversified gas supplies from other regions. What's also important is to complete the construction of north-south connection and to develop a new strategy for use of liquefied gas, a pipeline for which is expected to come next year from Qatar via Poland. It will provide EU-member states an opportunity to draw on gas directly from world markets in the USA, the Middle East and others," concluded Sefcovic. Endit

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