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| Ukraine Receives First Russian Gas since June Cut |
| 2014-12-10 |
| [AnNahar] Energy-starved Ukraine said on Tuesday it had received the first Russian natural gas shipments since a politically charged price dispute saw Moscow cut off supplies to its Westward-leaning neighbor in June. The announcement means that the war-torn nation of 45 million people should have enough power to heat homes through the bitter winter months. Ukraine was forced to delay school openings by a month and postpone the launch of winter household heating due to its severe fuel shortages. "Imports from Russia began two days earlier than planned," Ukraine's gas transport company Ukrtransgaz said in a statement. A front man for Russia's state-owned gas giant Gazprom said the shipments resumed at 10:00 am Moscow time (0700 GMT). The former Soviet republic received nearly half its gas from Russia prior to a revolution in February that ousted a Moscow-backed president and led the new government to sign up for closer ties with the EU. The dramatic political shift out of Russia's orbit prompted Moscow to cancel the special rates it had offered Ukraine in the past -- more than doubling the price. Kiev called the rate hike a form of "economic aggression" and refused to pay the extra amount. It had also accumulated debts for earlier deliveries that Moscow had been willing to forgive until the February revolt. But Russia demanded immediate payment for past debts and future deliveries following the change of leadership in Kiev. Months of EU-led negotiations between the two sides made no progress and Gazprom halted the flow of gas meant for Ukraine -- but not Russia's other European clients -- on June 16. Moscow and Kiev managed to strike a short-term price formula with the help of EU mediation on October 30. The six-month deal required Ukraine to pay Russia $3.1 billion by the end of the year to cover past debts. Ukraine separately agreed to pay up to $1.5 billion for winter deliveries from funds made available earlier to Kiev by the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and the International Monetary Fund. The country's state gas company Naftogaz transferred a payment of $378 million to Gazprom on Friday for the delivery of about one billion cubic meters of gas this month. |
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