PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Alexey Borisovich, you were in Brussels yesterday where you participated in difficult negotiations with Gazprom's colleagues from the EU and Ukraine. What were the results of these negotiations?
CHAIRMAN OF GAZPROM'S MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE ALEXEY MILLER: All day yesterday we held consultations on the establishment of an independent mechanism to oversee the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory. Gazprom sent a letter of invitation to European companies that buy Russian gas in Europe, and ten companies have already confirmed their support for such an independent international committee. Today this protocol will be signed.
For its part the European Commission has understood the need to establish such a mechanism. The main obstacle, and the reason which the European Commission did not sign the protocol on the establishment of an international committee yesterday, is its lack of a mandate from EU member countries to do so. We believe that very soon, perhaps even today, such a mandate will be given. And in light of the fact that the situation regarding the supply of Russian gas to several European countries is critical, we are confident that an independent monitoring mechanism could be established within a few hours. At yesterday's meeting the Ukrainian party adopted a destructive position and refused to sign a protocol on establishing an international committee; in practice they missed a real chance to renew the transit of Russian gas to European countries yesterday.
DMITRY MEDVEDEV: The day before yesterday I spoke with the Ukrainian President and set out the six conditions under which Russia and Gazprom, a major company, would be willing to work with Ukraine. These include the creation of the monitoring mechanism you referred to. This idea was supported by European leaders and individuals. I would now like to see how ready Ukrainian contractors are to establish such a monitoring system and determine who should participate in it. I believe that it cannot contain only representatives from Russia and Ukraine. There should also be representatives from companies that use Russian gas. There must be competent and qualified observers from the European Union. Not just bystanders who came to Ukraine in order to sit around a good table, but rather those who will work with real equipment and who will have access to all the technological aspects of this situation. Including the underground storage of gas. Otherwise we will never be able to make this situation public. And this is our goal: to show who is actually involved in stealing gas. What is the position of the Ukrainian party on this issue?
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