EU warned over gas supplies to Ukraine

The European countries will face gas cut-offs if they re-export the Russian gas to Ukraine, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak has warned.

In an interview with the German business daily Handelsblatt on Friday, Novak said re-exporting Russia’s gas to Ukraine is in violation of the existing contract, and Europe could see its supplies cut, if it continues to do so.

“The signed contracts do not foresee a re-export…We hope that our European partners will stick to the agreements. That is the only way to ensure there are no interruptions in gas deliveries to European consumers,” the Russian minister said.

The comments come ahead of a new round of talks in Berlin between Russia and Ukraine on their long-running gas dispute.

Russia suspended gas deliveries to Ukraine after Kiev failed to make a USD 1.95-billion payment of its USD 5.3-billion debt before the June 16 deadline and gas price talks between the two countries yielded no results.

Since then, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary have been shipping Russian gas to Ukrainian.

The European Union states are concerned over the gas row as Moscow provides 30 percent of Europe’s total gas demand with key pipelines on Ukrainian territory. The 28-nation bloc fears that it may face gas shortages and economic damage if Moscow stops pumping the fuel to Ukraine due to billions of dollars of unpaid bills to Russia.

Russia’s gas company Gazprom raised the price of gas for Ukrainian consumers to USD 485 per 1,000 cubic meters from USD 268 for the first quarter of 2014.

Ukraine says the Kremlin increased the price after former President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in February. Kiev calls the move politically motivated, but Russian authorities reject the claim.

MOS/AB/KA