MOSCOW, October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom confirmed on Wednesday that Ukraine had paid for Russian natural gas deliveries to the country for September.
"Ukraine's Naftogaz has paid on time and in full for September gas deliveries," the Russian gas monopoly's press service said.
A spokesman for Ukraine's state-controlled energy company Naftogaz said on Tuesday it had paid Russia about $400 million for 2 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas consumed in September.
Gazprom said there were no problems with this month's payment.
"The payment did not require borrowing from Russia, which shows Naftogaz of Ukraine has sufficient funds to make routine payments," it said in the statement.
Under the current contract, each month's payment is due by the seventh day of the following month. Should Ukraine fail to pay on time, the contract stipulates a switch to advance payments.
Bohdan Sokolovskiy, the Ukrainian president's envoy for energy security, said on Tuesday that Naftogaz is ready to meet its gas supply and gas transit obligations this winter even though its financial position is disastrous.
He said Ukraine had pumped about 26 billion cubic meters of natural gas into its underground gas storage facilities by today to ensure uninterrupted gas supplies and gas transit to Europe in the upcoming winter season.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko earlier said that 25.5 billion cubic meters were sufficient for the ex-Soviet republic to live normally through the winter period and ensure uninterrupted gas supplies and transit to European consumers.
Ukraine transits around 80% of Russia's Europe-bound gas.
Russia, which supplies around one fifth of Europe's gas, briefly shut down supplies via Ukraine's pipeline system at the start of the year during a dispute with Kiev over unpaid debt.
The conflict was resolved in January, when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Tymoshenko, agreed deals on deliveries to and gas transit through Ukraine for 2009.
Sokolovskiy said that the financial problems of Naftogaz, which defaulted on a $500 million Eurobond issue on September 30, could be attributed to serious miscalculations of the Ukrainian government during the conclusion of gas deals at the start of the year and the government's failure to reform the country's gas sector.
Tymoshenko, however, has repeatedly stated that the gas deals with Russia were beneficial for the country and would be honored.
