Russia’s delegation on Tuesday took part at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in the discussion of the problem of the transit of Russian natural gas to EU countries. Russia was represented by deputy head of the State Duma lower house of parliament Valery Yazev and head of the international affairs committee of the State Duma Konstantin Kosachev.
The delegation had meetings with European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pottering, as well as with representatives of the major parliamentary factions. The Russian delegation demonstrated documents on the transit of Russian gas via the Ukrainian territory and agreements between Moscow and Kiev in this sphere.
A diplomatic source told Itar-Tass on the results of the discussions that despite the calls of the anti-Russian forces, “the European deputies are not inclined to take an one-sided stance” in the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute. “They called for maintaining close contacts with all the sides involved for the settlement of the conflict and resumption of gas supplies,” he said.
The exchange of views on Tuesday at the European Parliament with the participation of Russian officials was a continuation of meetings with the European Commission leadership in Brussels on January 8. “In the context of the current gas crisis the inter-parliamentary dialogue is a very important dimension top which we attach major importance,” Kosachev said earlier. According to him, the participation of the Russian delegation in the meetings was conditioned “by the desire to prevent an imbalanced discussion.”
