Russian Federation halts gas supplies to Ukraine
On Wednesday morning, the CEO of Gazprom, Russia’s biggest state-owned natural-gas producer, said the company had cut off gas supplies to Ukraine after the country failed to pay in advance for more energy.
This relates to all civilian airlines of Russia, Prime Minister, Arseni Jazenjuk said at the Cabinet meeting Wednesday in Kyiv.
Kobolev stressed that Ukraine’s choice to halt Russian gas purchases was made out of “simple” economic reasons.
Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Moscow of orchestrating and supporting the pro-Russian revolt in reprisal for last year’s ouster of Kyiv’s Kremlin-backed president and the new government’s decision to align itself with the West.
Miller reportedly said that over the last two months, Ukraine has been buying gas to store for the coming winter.
Chief executive Alexei Miller warned that the stoppage posed a serious risk to the secure transit of gas to Europe via Ukraine, as well as to Ukrainian consumers.
Yatsenyuk said the new decision came “in part as result of the escalation of the military and geopolitical situation”.
Ukrainian state gas company Naftogaz said in Kyiv it had enough stock, and that supplies of Russian gas were not necessary for the time being. “Therefore we have set the (gas) deliveries”.
Kyiv said it did not need any more Russian gas for now and would guarantee the transit of piped Russian gas bound for Europe.
Power lines supplying the region from Ukraine were blown up over the weekend and people are having to rely on handouts.
Russian gas shipments to Ukraine recommenced in October after Gazprom got almost half of a promised $500 million prepayment from Kyiv, the AP says, after Russia lowered the price it charged Ukraine to about $230 per 1,000 cubic meters, about the same level granted to neighboring countries, down from $251.
Ukraine counts the annexing of Crimea illegal and has officially labelled Russian Federation as an “aggressor nation” and that its fight in the east as an “anti-terrorist operation”.