Ukraine rejects Russia’s demand to prepay for gas
Ukraine has rejected Russia’s demand to pay for June natural gas deliveries in advance, escalating the row between the two.
In a letter to the EU on Tuesday, Ukraine’s interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s said, “Since the Russian side is not agreeing to settle the dispute on the price for natural gas, the issue of advance payment cannot be on the agenda of contract relations.”
Yatsenyuk’s comments follow Russia’s gas giant Gazprom saying that Ukraine must pay for its natural gas in advance because of its huge debts.
According to reports, Ukraine’s total gas debt to Russia currently stands at over $3.5 billion.
Ukraine has been warned that future gas shipments will stop from June 3 if the consignments are not paid for in advance.
Kyiv has refused to pay for natural gas upfront as a protest to Russia’s decision to almost double former gas prices.
Russia doubled the price after the February protests that resulted in the ouster of Ukraine’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych.
Earlier in the day, the European Union executive body said that it has disbursed the first tranche of a 1.61-billion-euro loan to help struggling Ukraine get back on its economic feet.
On May 15, Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia is willing to resume gas talks with Ukraine if the Eastern European country settles part of its gas debt.
Fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine last month after Kyiv launched a military offensive against pro-Russia groups that have seized over a dozen towns and declared independence in Donetsk and neighboring Lugansk.
SRK/AS/MHB