Earlier, the Uzbek Energy Minister said that the country’s authorities would not allow any political conditions to be imposed on the sale and purchase of natural gas. The Kremlin decided to comment on this statement.
Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that the information about Uzbekistan’s refusal to participate in the “tripartite gas union” is incorrect, Kommersant reports.
According to him, there will be no political conditions for the participants of the “union”, its meaning is that the countries continue to sell energy resources, focusing on commercial conditions, but discussing with each other the laying of transport routes and directions for the development of gas infrastructure.
“No one talks about gas in exchange for political demands,” Peskov said.
It should be recalled that earlier in an interview with Kun.uz, Deputy PM for Developing Fuel, Energy and Chemical Industries – Minister of Energy Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov answered a question about possible gas trade with Russia, as well as possible political conditions and the danger of these conditions.
“We will never jeopardize our national interests. Even if we take the action you are talking about, we will only do so through commercial sales contracts. We will not allow any political conditions to be imposed in return,” he said.
Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov stressed that Uzbekistan would buy gas at an affordable price.
“If gas is brought to our border and given to us at a reasonable price, we will get it, if not, then no. We will take other measures. Understand one thing: we have gas problems only in the cold winter season. The rest of the time we fully cover our needs. Therefore, we will take the necessary measures, make additional investments, lead to energy saving, transfer industries that can work on alternative energy to coal as much as possible, and also intensively develop alternative energy,” the minister concluded.
For the first time, the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, announced the initiative to create a “tripartite gas union” between the countries at a meeting with Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin on November 28. Then he noted that the initiative came from the Russian leader.
Later, the press secretary of the President of Kazakhstan, Ruslan Jeldibay, noted that Tokayev and Putin considered it necessary to involve experts from three countries to find a rational solution to this issue, taking into account the interests of all parties.
In addition, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the project of a “tripartite gas union” proposed by the President of the Russian Federation with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan involves the creation of a coordination mechanism and the development of gas consumption and transportation infrastructure for both domestic and foreign markets.
Astana said that the idea of a gas union with the Russian Federation should be carefully studied.
The other day, Deputy PM of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak said that Uzbekistan is interested in creating a “gas union” with the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan.
At the same time, in Uzbekistan, none of the officials has yet commented on the initiative to create a “tripartite gas union”. The main information came from Russia and Kazakhstan. Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov became the first official from Uzbekistan to comment on the information about the “gas union”.
