Russian Federation halting gas supplies to Ukraine
“It is not that they are not delivering us gas, it is that we are not buying any”, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk told a government meeting.
Shortly before the decision of Kyiv, Russia gas supplies to the neighboring country had set on Wednesday morning because Kyiv has paid no money for additional amounts.
“The European Commission has no particular concern about the gas flows from Russian Federation to Ukraine and no further comment to make”, Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said.
Russian company Gazprom has stopped gas supplies to Ukraine until Kyiv pays for more energy. Gazprom is halting deliveries until there are new payments from Ukraine, Miller said Wednesday. Ukraine is an important route for Europe’s imports of Russian gas.
A recent upsurge in fighting in Ukraine’s industrial heartland has coincided with Russia’s stepped up air campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
Alexei Miller, CEO of Russian gas giant, Gazprom.
While Novak cited Ukraine’s failure to pay for its gas supplies, it looks as if the real reason may be the escalation of the argument between the countries over the annexation of Crimea. One standoff in 2009 caused serious disruptions in shipments European Union countries in the dead of winter.
The Ukrainian military said another soldier was killed in a new bout of clashes across the shattered war zone in the past 24 hours, and it had imposed a unilateral ceasefire in a bid to calm the violence.
Ukraine last month banned all Russian airlines from flying into Ukraine for national security reasons.
“This was done, first of all, because the pricing offers coming from our European partners are much lower than from our eastern neighbor”, Yatsenyuk said, adding that overall gas consumption in Ukraine has been reduced some 20 percent. Moscow had warned a day earlier it could also halt coal delveries to Ukraine. Russia may seek reprisals as Ukraine delays restoring the power supplies, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Tuesday.
Gazprom suspends gas deliveries to Ukraine over Kyiv non-payment, as chief