"We expect that Gazprom will discuss the information that has been sent from Lithuania by the end of this week, because it took us about this amount of time to discuss their proposals," Butkevičius told LRT Radio on Tuesday when asked when the price negotiations with Gazprom could be completed.
"I would be very glad if we had their answer next week that they accept our proposals or if they said simply that they are meeting at the experts level and completing the discussion of this issue by around the middle of this month," he said.
Lithuania sent its negotiating proposals to Gazprom on Sepember 25.
The Russian gas giant declines to comment on the course of the talks with the Lithuanian government.
Energy Minister Jaroslav Neverovic, the head of Lithuania's negotiation team, said a week ago that Lithuania and Gazprom had not come to agreement yet.
It is likely that the government is not satisfied with a price discount and other conditions put forward by Gazprom.
It is said that the issue of implementation of the EU's Third Energy Package is no longer the subject of discussion at the negotiations with Gazprom. According to unofficial sources, the Russians have realized that this process is irreversible and are now trying to steer the talks in a direction favorable to it.
