"For us, the most important thinп is that Gazprom and Naftogaz…participate in this process. Organzations that are located on the uncontrolled territories and how they make decisions and make their statements… we would obviously not want this," Demchyshyn said Monday.
Demchyshyn also said that Naftogaz continues deliveries of natural gas to self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine.
Demchyshyn met with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and EU energy chief Maros Sefcovic in Brussels on Monday for a new round of consultations on Russian gas supplies to Ukraine.
Last month, Kiev suspended gas supplies into the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, prompting Russia's energy giant Gazprom to supplant deliveries into Donbas. Hours later, Naftogaz head Andriy Kobolev announced the resumption of gas deliveries into Donbas, although the region's two breakaway republics' leadership disputed that claim.
Russian gas deliveries into Ukraine are currently carried out under the EU-mediated "winter package" deal, requiring advance payments from Naftogaz at discounts of $100 per 1,000 cubic meters. The deal expires on April 1, 2015.
