Ukraine still plays a key role in European energy strategies, European official tells Russian state media. UPI/Ivan Vakolenko Europe gets about a quarter of its natural gas supplies from Russia, though most of that runs through the Soviet-era pipeline network in Ukraine. Contractual disputes in 2006 and 2009 between Kiev and gas supplier Gazprom left downstream consumers in Europe in the cold for weeks and recent turmoil in Ukraine has only exacerbated the problem. Beate Raabe, a natural gas director for the European Union, said Ukraine is still a vital part of the energy security chain. “It is important that the businesses continue to cooperate, we cannot change the political climate, as much as we hope the political parties will do their utmost to end the armed conflict in Ukraine and to find a lasting solution to the problem, because that will also help the energy market,” she told […]