Ukraine agreed to pay 2 billion U.S. dollars back to Russia by Thursday for the gas delivered since July last year, said Oettinger in a press conference started nearly one and half hours later than scheduled, following a meeting with Ukraine Energy Minister Yuri Prodan and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak.
Another 500 million U.S. dollars would be paid by June 7, Oettinger said, adding that the deal was subject to the approval of governments of both sides, after consulting political leaders and companies until Wednesday evening.
The three officials have met twice for solutions to dispute over gas imports from Russia to Ukraine.
According to Russia, Ukraine has not paid for the gas it imported in full for months, accumulating a debt of over 3.5 billion U.S. dollars.
Oettinger said further talks would be held on Friday in Berlin, focusing on prices for gas delivered since April, when Russia cut discounts for gas sold to Ukraine for twice, pushing up the price from 268.5 U.S. dollars per 1000 cubic meters to 485 U.S. dollars.
Ukraine refused to accept the price, accusing Russia to increase the price for political reasons, while Russian side insisted that it would discuss a new gas discount only if Ukraine started to pay the debt.
Prodan told reporters that a final deal was not yet reached with Russia, and a "just market price" was needed.
The gas dispute concerned EU, since it imports one third of its gas from Russia and half of them are transported via Ukraine.
In the Monday press conference, Novak urged Ukraine to pay off the debt and said that Russia were "prepared to fulfill the contract" with its exports customers including those in Europe.
[cntv.cn]
27/5/14
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Gazprom to cut supplies to Ukraine from June if no prepayment
Paving the way for European energy security
Ukraine raised the stakes in a dispute with Russia over gas supplies on Tuesday, saying Russian state-controlled company Gazprom owed Kyiv natural gas worth around $1 billion which it had "stolen'' when Moscow annexed Crimea.....
ReplyDeleteRussia has warned it will reduce gas supplies to Ukraine on June 3 if Kyiv fails to pay in advance for next month's deliveries, causing concerns that onward supplies to Europe could be threatened.
With newfound confidence inspired by the election of a Ukrainian president at the weekend, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said gas talks with Russia could not progress until he heard Moscow's response on giving back the 2.2 billion cubic meters of gas which he said was taken when the country's Black Sea region was annexed by Russia in March.
The dispute has strained ties between the two neighbors since Moscow almost doubled the price for its deliveries to Ukraine after protesters toppled a pro-Russia Ukrainian president.
Implications for EU
It has also renewed concern in the European Union that there could be disruptions to Russian supplies delivered through pipelines that cross Ukraine.
"We want to hear a response from Russia... on the question of returning to Ukraine 2.2 billion cubic meters of gas which Russia stole through Chernomornaftogaz on the territory of [Crimea]," Yatsenyuk told a televised session of his cabinet.
He did not explain the source of that figure but Kyiv had referred earlier to a similar figure held in storage in Crimea.
Yatsenyuk also said if there was no agreement between the two sides by May 29, Ukraine would next meet Gazprom at the Stockholm arbitration court, which would try to resolve the dispute..................http://www.voanews.com/content/ukraine-stolen-gas-claim-raises-stakes-in-dispute-with-russia-/1923315.html