Russia said gas supplies to Ukraine could resume as early as next week after Ukraine pays after Ukraine pays the first installment on its debt.
Alexei Miller, the chief of Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom said Friday a multibillion-dollar deal worked out by Russia, Ukraine and the European Union will guarantee Russian gas supplies to Ukraine and other parts of Europe.
Ukraine will pay $378 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas until the year’s end, and the price is expected to fall slightly in the first quarter of next year, according to the agreement thrashed out on Thursday.
Miller said “everything depends on when Ukraine makes this payment.” He said he thought the payment would be next week.
Gazprom halted supplies to Ukraine in June due to unpaid bills, a move that followed the ouster of Ukraine’s Russia-friendly leader and the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea.
The Kremlin on Friday welcomed the deal as “an important step in the context of ensuring further uninterrupted gas transit to Europe.”
EU portion
The EU receives about a third of its gas from Russia and about half of that is piped across Ukraine.
The deal also eases fears that Europeans will end up shivering this winter as happened a few years ago during a gas dispute when Ukraine siphoned gas intended for Europe and Russia turned off the taps in response.
In Kyiv, Ukraine Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said he was determined to ensure safe transit to the EU, a crucial partner for Kyiv in dealing with Russia over the rebellion in the east and a creditor of Ukraine’s bankrupt economy.
Thursday’s agreement covers gas deliveries from November through March 2015 and calls for Ukraine to pay $1.45 billion. Miller put the pre-payment portion of that at $760 million.
Ukraine’s government must also pay off $3.1 billion for past deliveries by the end of the year, or supplies will cease from 2015, according to the protocol from Thursday’s talks in Brussels published by the Ukrainian government on Friday.
Material for this report came from AP, AFP, and Reuters.
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