Ukraine and Russian Federation clash again over gas pricing
“In accordance with the current agreements with Gazprom, the company is planning to contract Russian gas as much as needed, depending on the level of consumption in Ukraine and with account of supply on the European market”.
Moscow renewed gas deliveries to Ukraine after receiving $234 million in prepayment out of the agreed $500 from Naftogaz.
“As such, deliveries have been stopped until the receipt of new payments from the Ukrainian company”, Miller said in a statement.
Ukraine said it stopped buying Russian gas after other European countries being offered better prices.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told a televised cabinet meeting that the flight ban was justified because “Russia might use Ukrainian airspace to stage provocations”.
Ukraine can “easily” cope without Russian gas at least until the end of the year, said Alexander Paraschiy, a Concorde Capital analyst in Kyiv.
Ukraine does not buy gas now, but gas is flowing via Ukraine to other countries and it arrives there without problems in a transparent way, he said. “It is not them who are not supplying gas to us, it is us who are not buying gas from them”, Yatsenyuk said.
The announcement by Kyiv’s pro-Western government came only moments after Russian Federation said it was once again halting gas shipments to energy-dependent Ukraine starting Thursday.
Since no payment was made for future supplies, Gazprom said it halted deliveries to the Ukrainian market.
Moscow and Kyiv have clashed over gas pricing repeatedly in recent years and Russia’s annexation of Crimea has worsened their relations.
Temperatures in Ukraine, where most homes rely on gas for central heating, were below freezing Wednesday morning.
Europe and the United States have slapped sanctions on Moscow for stoking the Ukraine conflict, accusing the Russian government of orchestrating and supporting the pro-Russian revolt in the east of the country – charges it denies.
Kyiv prohibited all Russian airlines last month from flying into Ukraine, but Russian airplanes are permitted to fly over its land.
On Nov. 6 European Commissioner for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic warned of the expiry of the Russia Ukraine contract