KIEV (Sputnik) – The European Parliament has called on Russia to immediately return to the negotiating table with Ukraine to hammer out a long-term gas deal, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said in a speech before the Ukrainian Parliament on Friday.
On Tuesday, trilateral gas talks between the European Commission, Ukraine, and Russia came to a stalemate and Ukraine’s Naftogaz ceased to purchase gas from Russia beginning on July 1.
Kiev has been trying to receive a larger gas discount from Moscow, but Moscow decided to retain the same discount for Kiev as was in use for the second quarter of 2015, or $40 per 1,000 cubic meters of fuel. Kiev has insisted on a 30 percent discount for the third quarter.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said earlier that Ukraine should pay the same price for gas as its neighbors do.
On July 1, Russia closed the gas valves to Ukraine as the latter failed to make a prepayment for July gas deliveries.