KIEV, December 22. /TASS/: The agreement reached by Ukraine and Russia on gas transit will help keep jobs, while the national budget will receive income, leader of the Ukrainian Opposition Platform - For Life party Yuri Boyko said at the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) on Saturday.
"I didn’t have a sliver of doubt that the contract would be signed. Thank God it happened after the deadlock that relations [between Ukraine and Russia] were driven into, particularly in the gas sphere. Any compromise is good and the fact that the transit contract is agreed is undeniably a victory. Primarily, for our country because it is our national gas transmission system and also that our people will get jobs and the budget will receive income," Boyko underlined.
He suggested, "It would be a compromise contract but it is impossible to find a way out of this gridlock without compromise." "We just need to be honest with people that compromise is necessary, that this contract is vital and must be signed," he added.
According to the politician, all parties are interested in signing the contract. "Europe and Russia are interested in it. And we are too, naturally, as a country that is paid $3 billion every year for transmitting Russian gas. Moreover, we are keeping around 50,000 jobs and technical security of the gas pipeline," the member of parliament pointed out.
Boyko voiced hope that a contract on direct gas supplies will be signed following the transit one. "If we manage to purchase it on Ukraine’s eastern border without overpaying for the gas to be transmitted across our country and returned to us through European countries, then the price will be reduced," Boyko stressed.
On Saturday, reports emerged that Ukraine and Russia are expected to sign a new fiver-year gas transit contract before December 29. Minimal transmission amount will be 65 billion cubic meters in 2020, while 40 billion cubic meters will be transmitted in 2021-2024 annually.
