YEREVAN. – The negotiations with Russia over the natural gas tariffs still continue, but an arrangement has not been made yet.

Acting Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources, Garegin Baghramyan, on Thursday told the aforesaid to reporters, at the Government of Armenia.

But he assured that there was no problem in connection with the fact that the respective contract expires on December 31, since it will automatically be extended until the said negotiations are over.

The acting minister informed that a corresponding talk had recently taken place in Saint Petersburg, Russia, between Armenian Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin; but he did not provide any details from this conversation.

“The EAEU [Eurasian Economic Union, which comprises Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan] is discussing the matter of formation of a common [natural] gas supply market where there will be non-discriminatory approaches between the participants in that market,” he added. “[But] we need to take into account that (…) we have a [natural gas supply] transit country [Georgia] in Armenia’s case, and [therefore] a transit fee needs to be paid.”

In the acting minister’s conviction, however, if producers that use natural gas do that beneficially and apply high tech, they will be in much better conditions, in this regard.

Garegin Baghramyan added that this matter could be raised during talks with colleagues of the other EAEU countries.