Poland opposes laying a pipeline bypassing Ukraine, a spokesman for the Polish government Krzysztof Luft said.

Poland opposes laying a pipeline bypassing Ukraine, a spokesman for the Polish government Krzysztof Luft said, Interfax-Ukraine reported. A protocol on the intentions of Russia's Gazprom and four European companies to build the gas pipeline has already been signed, the Interfax report said. But the Polish government wants to call a conference of representatives of all the parties involved in the project, as it is impossible to build such a gas pipeline via Poland without consulting with Poland, Luft’s press secretary said, according to the report. Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Janusz Steinhoff recently sent a letter to his Russian counterpart Viktor Khristenko proposing that issues of the construction of the gas pipeline to Western Europe and gas supplies to Poland be discussed, the report said. Poland supports obligations on the construction of the second branch of the Yamal gas pipeline as set forth in an agreement signed with Gazprom back in 1993, the report said. That agreement provides for laying two branches of the gas pipeline. The first line running via Belarus and central Poland was commissioned in 1999. Poland is ready to adjust the route of the second branch to the southeast of the first one, according to the Interfax report.