<article><p class="lead">The latest round of political talks between Russia and Ukraine hosted by the EU have ended with little progress on agreement about the legal form or possible volumes of Russian gas that could transit Ukraine from 1 January.</p><p>EU energy union commissioner Maros Sefcovic said he was "disappointed by today's outcome", and a lack of political will was responsible for the failure to progress. </p><p>A subsequent round of political-level talks was agreed on by all parties, Sefcovic said, with sides looking for a date "in November". Russia's energy ministry said talks will be held "at the end of November".</p><p>Sefcovic said he believed the parties could have had an "orientation discussion" on possible volumes within a future contract. He also said he suggested possible durations for a contract. Ukrainian state-owned Naftogaz said it had a "common position" with the EU that a new contract should be long-term and substantial in scope.</p><p>Russia raised the issue of resolving all legal issues between the parties before agreeing the terms of a new contract. Russian state-controlled Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller raised this issue when reporting to the Russian government earlier this month, but the topic was not mentioned at the <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1980763">last round of talks</a>. </p><p>Gazprom previously said the <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1697933">arbitration award</a> made against it in favour of Naftogaz destroyed the "balance of interests" between the parties and that these need to be restored. Naftogaz has been seeking recovery of the award through enforcement actions in various European jurisdictions. Gazprom has appealed the award to the Swedish judicial system, and a 10-day hearing was held earlier this month.</p><p>Naftogaz last week obtained an order from a Dutch court freezing shares of the Gazprom subsidiary responsible for building and operating the 31.5bn m³/yr Turkish Stream pipeline project, as part of its effort to recover the arbitral award. But the decision does not affect the operation of the project, Naftogaz told <i>Argus</i>.</p></article>
