Butkevicius again denies rumors on secret talks with Gazprom

VILNIUS - In reaction to rumors in the mass media that Russia had sent a draft memorandum to Lithuania's Ministry of Energy, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius again denied receiving any kind of document from Russia.

"I would like to stress it once again that there are no behind the scenes consultations or talks with Gazprom. As we agreed with the leadership of Gazprom in a meeting in St Petersburg all affairs will be handled by an experts' group rather than in the shadow of some kind of non-existent documents from Russia. We also agreed that consultations of Lithuania and the gas company will be held within the Third Energy Package framework," the PM said.

The draft memorandum mentioned in the mass media was sent to the Ministry of Energy by representative of E. ON Rurhgas and chairman of the Lithuanian Gas Board Achim Saul. The chairman is not empowered to act in the name of Gazprom, therefore, the draft memorandum is not considered as an official document and as a result was not sent to the prime minister.