The contract for the supply of gas between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, which has been heatedly debated in the recent past, will be extended. This agreement cannot be stopped given that both of the states realize that they cannot halt the supply of gas to the whole Europe, said energy expert Victor Parlicov, former director of the National Agency for Energy Regulation. According to him, Moldova is the only country that is absent from the negotiations on the issue even if it is directly involved, IPN reports.

Victor Parlicov is convinced that the contract for the supply of gas between the Russian Federation and Ukraine will be renewed. According to him, such situations when the two sides haven’t had an agreement on the matter for such a long period of time weren’t witnessed earlier. “What do the sides discuss now? In fact, everyone realizes that a transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine cannot be absent as “Gazprom” cannot sufficiently supply Europe bypassing Ukraine, whereas Ukraine needs this transit,” stated the expert.

He noted that the Republic of Moldova is not present at these talks, but will suffer the consequences of this agreement. “I think missing these negotiations is a tactical failure of the Republic of Moldova. The supply of gas to the Republic of Moldova is discussed there and we are practically used by the other sides without having a voice at the negotiating table,” said Victor Parlicov.

Economic expert Veaceslav Ioniță stated that Moldova hasn’t solved the energy problem yet and the market hasn’t been liberalized. Moldova does not have a clear perspective as regards the energy sector. “The idea was to build a pipeline through which to receive gas in reverse flow regime, in the south towards Romania, when the Russian Federation helps us. We and Romania do not have gas and the question is, why the Romanian companies should build a gas pipeline to the Republic of Moldova when they do not have a contract for the supply of gas with the Republic of Moldova. (...) I cannot imagine why the Romanian side should invest about €300 million in a gas pipeline in the absence of guaranteed supplies,” he said.

The contract for the transportation of Russia gas through Ukraine expires on December 31, 2019.