Ukraine bans Russian airlines flights

The European Commission’s vice president for energy, Maros Sefcovic, called the deal a “major achievement” and a “crucial step” to ensure Ukraine has gas supplies from October through March and that Europe receives “reliable” onward deliveries.

Ukraine announced on Friday it was banning Russian airlines, including Aeroflot, from flying into the country, as part of a wave of sanctions against Russia over its support for separatists in the east.

“After the [initialed protocol] document is signed, Ukraine will start buying our gas”.

Putin has said there’s no chance Crimea – which Russian Federation annexed a year ago – will go back in Ukraine.

The prime minister stated during a meeting that the Russian tricolor has no business in Ukrainian airports.

The European Union relies on Russian Federation for about a third of its gas supplies, with half of that amount transiting through Ukraine. Under the deal agreed today, Ukraine committed to injecting 2 billion cubic meters of gas into underground storage next month.

Moscow has warned that Kiev’s failure to sign a deal might see Ukraine dip into Russian flows destined for the rest of Europe.

Simon Pirani, a Ukraine expert and senior researcher at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, said the final price would provide an indication of Gazprom’s intentions. However, Gazprom’s CEO has warned that it may run out of gas before the period agreed upon ends.

“I would like to clarify that the European Commission has played a facilitating role in this regard – not one of providing additional finance”. The 28-nation bloc gets about 10 percent of its gas through Ukrainian pipelines from Russian Federation.

Otherwise, Ukraine will pursue prosecutions against Russian Federation in the global Court of Justice. Also, the parties discussed the possibility of extra lending to Ukraine.Contacts are underway with global financial institutions over the possibility of providing another $500 million to Ukraine by the end of the year, a source close to the trilateral negotiations said.

EU-brokered talks seeking a similar agreement on gas for the coming winter began in March.