MOSCOW, May 12 (RIA Novosti) — The European Commission should signal to Ukrainian authorities they need to pay off their gas debt to Moscow, as the country has sufficient funds, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Monday.
"For us, the issue is absolutely clear: there is a debt, the debt must be paid off," Medvedev said at the meeting with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and head of Gazprom Alexei Miller.
"The only thing we can hope for is that our Euro Commission partners, all who are involved, would finally send the necessary signals to the Ukrainian authorities, since they (EC) are being listened to so carefully, that debt must be paid off," he said, adding that instead of endless talks, Ukraine should at least transfer a considerable amount that would signify it has "a real desire to pay off the debt."
Ukraine has not paid for Russian gas in two months. According to Russia’s energy giant Gazprom, Ukraine’s accumulated debt for previous deliveries totals $3.5 billion. The company said it plans to bill Kiev on Tuesday.
Last week, Gazprom said it will stop deliveries of natural gas to Ukraine if Kiev fails to pre-pay by June 2. If Ukraine fails to pay for June deliveries, Gazprom will cut off gas supplies from June 3, Miller said.
Medvedev asked Novak to deliver the message to the Ukrainian partners and the European Commission.
"Otherwise, we will have nothing to talk to them about. All this talk, all these discussions, they lead nowhere," he said, adding that "actually, our Ukrainian partners have money," referring to a recent IMF aid package, one of the first promised by the Fund.
On April 1, the price of Russian gas for Ukraine rose to $485 per thousand cubic meters from $268.50, as Russia withdrew two major discounts.
In December, Russia offered Ukraine a 25 percent discount on natural gas a deal that was cancelled because of Kiev’s overdue gas bills. Another $100 discount per thousand cubic meters of gas was granted in return for the right to use the Sevastopol port in Crimea to host the Black Sea Fleet, annulled shortly after Crimea became a part of Russia in late March.
Ukraine refuses to recognize the new gas price, which is fully in line with the contract that the two states signed in 2009.
The European Commission launched an anti-monopoly investigation against Gazprom and threatened Russia with sanctions due to the current Ukrainian crisis. Some European countries that buy Russian gas have started looking for alternative gas sources. Russian Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky said that refusing Russian gas would put some of them under the threat of energy collapse.
In case it does lose clients in the West, Russia is looking to sell gas to its Eastern partners. Yanovsky said that Gazprom is ready to sign a major gas contract with China and is also considering increasing supplies through the Nord Stream and Opal pipelines.
Earlier on May 2 Russian and EU officials met in Warsaw to discuss gas supplies in connection with the ongoing Ukrainian crisis. The next round of multilateral talks is scheduled for May 16.
The situation with Ukraine’s gas transit will also be discussed with leading experts from 180 countries at the ninth international conference «Energy Dialogue: Russia-European Union, Gas Aspects» in Brussels on May 14.
