Ukrainian Premier Arsenii Yazenyuk has instructed the agencies to prepare to suspension of gas supplies from Russia since June 16, 2014, reported the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers.
The instructions have been given to the Ministries of Energy and Coal Industry, Economic Development and Trade, Regional Development, Construction and Municipal Economy, administration of Naftogas Ukraine company and heads of regional administrations.
Naftogas and the Justice Ministry have been instructed to complete the procedure of filing a suit to the Stockholm Arbitrage.
Yazenyuk has also instructed the Ministry of Industry and Energy to inform the EU member-states and USA “about deliberate failure of talks on gas deliveries by Russia” and “rejection of Ukraine’s constructive proposals, which correspond to the European Commission’s position.”
‘Since the very beginning Ukraine has demonstrated its readiness to find a compromise on the basis of the European Commission’s (EC) proposals and the market mechanisms of gas price formation. The transitional gas price for Ukraine of $326 per 1000 cub.m. offered by EC has been rejected by Russia without any consideration. However, Russia has offered a politically motivated discriminating price, which could be unilaterally increased by $100 any time by the Russian government,” said the same source.
Yesterday President of Russian Gasprom company Aleksey Miller accused Yazenyuk of failure of the gas talks. He said that the Ukrainian Premier’s statement about Ukraine’s intention not to pay more than$ 268 per 1000 cub.m. has been made officially during the talks between EU, Russia and Ukraine. Miller called Ukraine’s position an open “blackmail.”
The deadline of payment of debts for gas by Naftogas is June 16, 2014. If the company fails to pay, Gasprom is going to switch to pre-payment for gas.