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Russia issues prepayment ultimatum to Kiev for gas supply guarantee in March

Xinhua, February 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Russia asked Ukraine to complete payment for Russian gas on Friday to guarantee gas supplies in March, according to Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak.

"The payment should be completed Friday ... and we would wait literally by the end of the week for these prepayments," Novak said at the Krasnoyarsk economic forum held in Russia's Siberia.

He warned that in line with last October's agreements reached in Brussels, supplies will stop from Tuesday if no money is received.

The minister confirmed earlier in the day that Ukraine's national energy firm Naftogaz has transferred a gas payment of 15 million U.S. dollars, which however can only pay for one day's gas volume.

Novak said Ukraine still needed around 2 billion cubic meters of gas in order to go through winter season.

"In fact (the volume can support Ukraine) by the end of March," Tass news agency quoted Novak as saying.

Meanwhile, Novak claimed that the cessation of gas supplies to Ukraine won't threaten Russia's European customers.

Recently, Russia and Ukraine kept accusing each other for violating the gas supply deal signed last year.

Russia's energy giant Gazprom insisted that Kiev transfer prepayment money for further gas supply, while Naftogaz blamed Moscow for the under-supply of gas from Feb. 22 to 26.

A trilateral meeting of the two countries as well as the EU is supposed to take place on March 2 in Brussels to settle the problem.

Gas deliveries between Russia and Ukraine only resumed last December according to a "winter package" deal reached after lengthy negotiations and bargaining.

The package allowed the resumption of Russian gas supply to Ukraine till March 2015 on the condition that by the end of 2014 Ukraine should repay in two tranches 3.1 billion dollars of its outstanding debt of over 5 billion U.S. dollars. Endite