Uzbekistan has refused to join the Kremlin’s initiative to establish a “trilateral gas union”, Reuters reports. Energy Minister Jorabek Mirzamahmudov said that Tashkent will “never agree to political conditions in exchange for gas.”
“When importing gas from other countries, we only cooperate with them on the basis of commercial contracts. We will never agree to political conditions in exchange for gas” he said.
Earlier, Vladimir Putin stated that Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are discussing the idea of creating a “gas union”. However, later the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Roman Vasilenko, denied it.
“It is too early to discuss the trilateral gas union as this is an idea for the time being. Kazakhstan’s principled position is that our country does not allow its territory to be used to circumvent sanctions. At the same time, we do not support sanctions as a method of solving international problems” he said.
