Russian Federation halts gas supplies to Ukraine
Ukraine is an important route for Europe’s imports of Russian gas.
Meanwhile, Russia’s state-controlled gas exporter, Gazprom, said Wednesday that it stopped sending gas to Ukraine because Kyiv had not paid in advance for more deliveries.
Kiev on October 25 barred most Russian airlines from flying into Ukraine – a decision that drew immediate reciprocal measures by Moscow.
Gazprom is a dominant supplier of gas for many Central and Eastern European countries while almost half of Europe’s consumption of natural gas travels through Ukraine before entering the region.
Ukraine does not buy gas now, but gas is flowing via Ukraine to other countries and it arrives there without problems in a transparent way, he said.
Alexei Miller, the top executive at Gazprom, said there would be no future deliveries to Ukraine until Naftogaz issues a new payment. Supplies restarted after the European Commission brokered an interim deal between the former Soviet allies. Russian Federation also cut gas supplies in 2006 and 2008 because of price disputes.
Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and its support for separatist rebels in the east soured relations between the two countries.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told a televised cabinet meeting that the latest ban was justified because “Russia might use Ukrainian airspace to stage provocations”. “Until this time, Naftogaz will accept Russian gas only for transportation to Europe”, the statement said. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that this move would have longterm consequences, leaving Ukraine with a coal deficit, Interfax reported Tuesday.
The blackouts – the result of pro-Ukrainian activists blowing up the electricity lines which supply Crimea in southern Ukraine over the weekend – are causing misery for the population of some 2 million and testing loyalty levels to Moscow.
Russia is in the process of building a power bridge from the Russian mainland to Crimea to reduce the peninsula’s reliance on obtaining its energy from Ukraine.