EU, Russia, Ukraine to hold trilateral gas meeting next Tuesday

The European Union (EU) said on Friday a trilateral gas meeting between the EU, Russia and Ukraine was scheduled for next Tuesday in Brussels.
The three sides will be represented by EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan respectively.
During the previous ministerial gas talks held in September in Berlin, Russia, Ukraine and the EU prepared a new package deal on settling the gas dispute and needed to be approved by the governments in Moscow and Kiev.
According to the "winter package" mediated by the EU, Kiev would pay 2 billion U.S. dollars to Russia by the end of October and a further 1.1 billion dollars by the end of this year to pay off gas debts.
In return, Russia would deliver at least 5 billion cubic meters of gas to Ukraine after it has received the first 2 billion dollars. The price discussed for the gas deliveries was 385 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said at the same day in Milan all remaining issues could be resolved during the next trilateral talks.