BBC News
December 24, 2008
Russian gas giant Gazprom has renewed its threat to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine on 1 January, saying a contract dispute has reached a “critical” stage.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Ukraine faced Russian “sanctions and demands” if it did not pay off its gas debt “to the last rouble”.
Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov stressed that the dispute would not disrupt gas deliveries to Europe.
Ukraine owes $1.67bn (£1.1bn) for gas and $450m in fines, Gazprom says.
Gazprom denied that any agreement had been reached with Kiev on postponing the repayment, contradicting an announcement by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko
On Tuesday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned that the era of cheap gas was coming to an end.
Earlier, Gazprom said it had warned European customers about possible disruption linked to the Ukraine dispute.
The EU gets 42% of its gas imports from Russia, mostly via pipelines across Ukraine. A similar row in 2006 led to gas shortages in several EU countries.
‘Pay up’
“If a contract for 2009 is not signed [with Ukraine] then we are not going to deliver gas without a contract,” Mr Kupriyanov told reporters in Kiev.
“When there is no contract we cannot realise deliveries. The situation is not simple. It is even critical.”
But Gazprom, he added, would “deliver the full volume of gas destined for transit and… fulfil all [its] obligations towards European consumers”.
Speaking to Russian TV channels in Moscow, President Medvedev said the non-payment situation could not be allowed to continue.
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