No Resolution In Ukraine-Russia Gas Dispute: Gazprom

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russia and Ukraine have not managed to resolve their gas payment conflict, a spokesman for Russian gas giant Gazprom said on Sunday, as a deadline approached after which Moscow has threatened supply cuts.

A pressure gauge is seen on a gas pipeline in the vicinity of the town of Boyarka, near Kiev.
"There has been no agreement yet. We expect to reduce supplies. We are keeping up contacts," Sergei Kupriyanov told AFP.

On Friday Gazprom said it would reduce supplies to the ex-Soviet neighbour by 25 percent at 10:00 am Moscow time (0700 GMT) on Monday if their dispute was not settled.

The dispute is over 1.9 billion cubic metres of gas deliveries worth around 600 million dollars (395 million euros) that Ukraine has not paid, Kupriyanov said on Friday.

The dispute has persisted despite an announcement on February 12 by the two countries' presidents, Vladimir Putin and Viktor Yushchenko, that the differences had been resolved.

The dispute echoes an earlier one in 2006 in which Russia briefly cut supplies to Ukraine, leading to knock-on disruption in several European countries.

Ukraine is the main transit route for Russian gas supplies to the European Union.

Kiev claims to have settled its debts to Gazprom for 2007, but disagreements remain over a debt Moscow claims Ukraine accumulated in recent months when Russia used its own gas to make up for a shortfall in less expensive Central Asian gas.

Russian natural gas accounts for around a quarter of Ukraine's gas imports, with the rest coming from former Soviet republics in Central Asia via pipelines that go through Russia.

The dispute partly reflects wrangling between Yushchenko and Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has been pushing for an end to the murky system of intermediaries by which Ukraine pays for gas imported from Russia and Central Asia.

Source: AFP