Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday he did not exclude the possibility of natural gas transit from Central Asian states to Ukraine via Russia.
Ukraine purchased gas directly from Turkmenistan up to 2006. Deliveries were then handled by the Rosukrenergo company until it was squeezed out of the Ukrainian market by the efforts of then-Ukrainian premier Yulia Tymoshenko. Ukraine currently only buys Russian gas.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said he would like the issue of Turkmenistan's gas supplies through Russia to be discussed in the future. He also said he was hoping on support from Moscow.
"This issue has never been excluded, but it can't be bilateral. It always has a trilateral character and ultimately is about our agreements with the Uzbeks or other colleagues, for example, the Turkmen," Medvedev told a Russian-Ukrainian forum in Kiev.
Russian gas giant Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz are continuing to discuss issues of integration and joint projects. However the decision about building the South Stream gas pipeline has already been taken and the project will be realized, Medvedev said.
The South Stream pipeline will pump 63 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas annually to Bulgaria, Italy and Austria and is part of Russia's efforts to cut dependence on transit nations, particularly Ukraine and Turkey.
However, Medvedev also said there was no "political" element to the decision to construct South Stream and that it did not mean that "alternatives" had to be ruled out.
KIEV, May 18 (RIA Novosti)
