Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection Oleksiy Orzhel said during a press briefing that the Ministry does not exclude the option of buying gas directly from Russia.

"The Russian side raised the issue of direct supplies, and we agreed that further discussion of this issue in the framework of consultations should be based on market conditions. That means that the price should be based according to the market, and the conditions and trends that are in the European market," he said.

Earlier Director of Ukrainian company Naftogaz Yuriy Vitrenko said that nothing prevents Russian gas giant Gazprom from direct gas supplies to Ukraine. According to Vitrenko, last year Naftogaz made an advance payment for the Russian gas, but the Russian gas monopolist didn't supply this gas to Ukraine and violated the terms of the contract.

  Naftogarz, Gazprom

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