Russia’s Gazprom stops gas supplies to Ukraine over Kyiv’s refusal


Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk ordered state holding Naftogaz Ukrainy to stop purchasing natural gas from Russia, Interfax Ukraine reports.

“Today as at 10:00 a.m., Naftogaz Ukrainy selected earlier prepaid volumes of Russian gas. New prepayments have not arrived. There are no applications for gas supplies from Naftogaz Ukrainy. So, supplies are being stopped until new payments arrive from the Ukrainian company,” Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told journalists.

The refusal to buy Russian gas is creating serious risks for the reliable transit of gas to Europe along the territory of Ukraine and for the gas supply of Ukrainian consumers during the approaching winter, the Gazprom CEO warned.

“The government has made the decision to order Naftogaz to stop purchases of Russian gas. They did not cut off gas supplies to us, we are the ones who are not buying it. And this was done in connection with the fact that pricing offers from our European partners are much better than those from our northern neighbor,” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk commented on the situation at a meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday.

He said that the overall volume of gas consumption in Ukraine has already fallen by 20%.

Currently, Ukraine is using gas reserves from underground storage facilities which are reported to be sufficiently filled. On November 23, Volodymyr Demchyshyn, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine, said that Ukraine was not planning to purchase more gas from Russia in the run-up of a cold season.

According to Naftogaz chief Andriy Kobolev, Ukraine will pass through the coming winter without buying Russian gas.

Naftogaz Ukrainy is expecting on Wednesday to receive the entire volume of Russian gas that was paid for earlier and will continue to meet its obligations for the transportation of gas to Europe, the holding’s press service says.

Belsat.eu, following Interfax

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