Ukraine does not want to pay off gas debt to Gazprom, seeks long term solution
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[QUOTE]Russia stopped gas flow to Kiev in price, debts row
* Hopes of a deal rose after talks last week
* Moscow wants some debts paid before supplies resume (Adds comment by Ukraine's energy ministry)
By Darya Korsunskaya
ATYRAU, Kazakhstan, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Russia's energy minister said on Tuesday he hoped to reach a deal in a gas dispute with Ukraine this week, but Kiev must pay some of its large debts before Moscow resumes gas supplies.
Kiev is under pressure from the European Union, which is mediating the talks and worried about possible disruptions to its own supplies, to agree on a price for the Russian gas and accept a timetable for paying $5.3 billion in gas debts.
Efforts to end the row have collapsed at the last minute several times, and are complicated by a wider political crisis between Moscow and Kiev, but prospects of securing a deal have risen since progress was made at talks last week in Berlin.
Russia halted gas flows to Ukraine in June because of the dispute but said it would continue to supply the rest of Europe, which receives about a third of its gas needs from Russia, some 40 percent of which is pumped via Ukraine.
Visiting the Kazakh city of Atyrau with President Vladimir Putin, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said he expected new talks with Ukraine on Thursday or Friday and one of the main issues to resolve was the timetable for Kiev to pay its debts.
"It is a matter of principle for us that part of the debt should be redeemed before the (gas) supply starts," Novak told reporters.
"We have no differences over the numbers on the whole. We agree that they pay $3.1 billion (to start with). But there are some issues which are not completely resolved, related to timetables, which I hope will be removed this week."
Moscow wants Kiev to make the initial $3.1 billion debt payment in two tranches -- $2 billion before the gas flows restart and $1.1 billion by the end of this year.
But Novak said Ukraine wanted to pay in three tranches of $1.5 billion, $0.8 billion and $0.8 billion and wanted to make the payments only after gas flows resume.
Ukraine's energy ministry said in a statement that it had not received a price that was "acceptable" in gas talks with Russia and the European Union on Sept. 26 and was working out proposals along with Naftogaz to follow up on the talks.
Alexei Miller, head of state-run gas exporter Gazprom , said on Saturday that the low volumes of the fuel in Ukrainian gas storage facilities meant there was a possibility of disruptions in supplies to Europe this winter.
Miller's comments maintained pressure for a deal following the talks in Berlin at which European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said an interim price being discussed for Kiev was $385 per cubic metre.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/09/30/ukraine-crisis-gas-idUKL6N0RV21I20140930[/url]
Shut it all down. Can't wait for the winter.
Politics is politics.
Business is business.
Debts have to be paid.
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