17/12/2019 (Agence Europe) – The fifth round of trilateral negotiations (Russia, EU and Ukraine) on the transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine will take place on Thursday 19 December, the Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations, formerly in charge of Energy, Maroš Šefčovič, announced on Twitter on Tuesday 17 December. This meeting, which will take place in Berlin, is of particular importance, given that the current contract between Gazprom and Naftogaz for this transit expires on 31 December. The Russian company recently sent a one-year agreement proposal to Naftogaz with preconditions (see EUROPE 12371/4), some of which had been deemed unacceptable by the Ukrainian company (see EUROPE 12376/18). Information circulated that an agreement had been reached as bilateral discussions between the two gas companies were being held in Vienna a few days ago. However, this information was formally denied by Naftogaz on Twitter. (DG)