EU energy chief Gunther Oettinger held talks with Russian energy minister Alexander Novak which came after an escalation in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
However both sides insist that politics will have no part to play in trying to get Ukraine to pay what it owes for gas and Russia's commitments to providing Europe with energy.
Russia has indicated it has a number of concerns associated with transporting gas to the EU, with fears the gas pipes, which pass through Ukraine, may be tampered with.
Close to 40 percent of the EU's energy supplies are imported from Russia, with concerns over whether adequate amounts will be transported to the EU in the coming months.
Political analyst Dmitry Babic believes this will be an important topic of discussion during negotiations.
"I think it’s a huge issue. In the ‘90s when Ukraine ran out of funds, it just sifted off Russian gas through the pipelines and left it for itself. It did it again in 2009, but now Russia is very much in control of its own supplies, so if this gas is stolen- the gas destined for Europe- Russia is not going to be able to make up for it.â€
He also believes Russia's decision to cut gas deliveries to Ukraine in June were justified, despite serious concerns that Ukraine won't have enough energy resources for the upcoming winter.
“Ukraine has an outstanding debt of €5 billion for the Russian gas that it already consumed, and Russia stopped supplying gas to Ukraine in June because Ukraine refused to pay. Ukraine insists that Russia fulfil the terms of the agreement struck with Mr Yanukovych at the beginning of the year. Russia says this was with Mr Yanukovych, not with you, so you should pay the price agreed according to the contract signed in 2009 with Mrs Timoshenko.â€
Although the EU and Russia were initially unable to come to an agreement over gas supplies, Babich said he is confident that an arrangement can be reached, and believes that both parties will want to continue negotiations.
“I would say that both the EU and Russia are interested. I don’t know what Mr Oettinger and Mr Novak have up their sleeves. They will probably try to find some alternative route for the gas. They could supply the gas through the Polish and Belorussian territory. The north stream is fully operative right now, while the south stream is a big problem because the EU says it won’t allow its construction until Russia agrees to allow all of the intermediary companies to use this tube. However Russia says that will only the companies that have invested in this project may use it.â€
Despite recent sanctions and trade embargoes being imposed on both sides, and the NATO accusing Russia of interfering with Ukrainian national matters, Babich believes this won't have an impact on the discussions over gas supplies.
“I think both sides are ready to forget about politics, and it seems to have been agreed that gas negotiations have nothing to do with the situation in Ukraine with the civil war in the east. The problem is that Ukraine doesn’t want to pay for the gas that it has been getting from Russia. So now the big issue is that there is not enough gas in the Ukrainian storage to allow for a safe passage through to Europe. You need about one-fifth more gas in the Ukrainian storages than what is currently available. This is another issue Mr Oettinger discussed with Mr Novak in Moscow. I think they will probably try to bypass Ukraine via Poland and the Baltic Sea.
“Both sides agreed that they wouldn’t mention the war and the political differences. Right now, because of the civil war in Ukraine, 11 million people are suffering in the east of the country. If there are cuts to the Russian gas supplies to the EU, 400 million people will suffer. So I think there is a desire on both sides to keep politics out of these gas negotiations."
 (VoR)
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