BRUSSELS, May 22 – The European Union expects Russia and Ukraine to reach a compromise on natural gas supplies and transit, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said, adding that he stressed this in a letter he sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin on behalf of the 28 EU member-states.

"The letter is self-explanatory. What I said in the letter is our clear position, not only position of the Commission because I was answering a letter of President Putin that he addressed to several member-states of the European Union, but member-states wanted the Commission to answer on behalf of all the EU member states including European institutions," he said on Wednesday at a joint press conference with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili in Brussels.