Ukrainian PM accuses Russia of stopping oil deliveries

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko accused Russia on Saturday of having deliberately suspended oil deliveries to Ukraine for five days.

"Oil deliveries to Ukraine are being deliberately stopped even though all contracts have been paid for," Tymoshenko told reporters. "For five days, no oil was pumped at all, even though we have all the necessary agreements."

The Ukrainian government is making all efforts to maintain the stability of the domestic oil market, she added.

Gasoline has been in short supply recently in Ukraine. Most gas stations in the capital Kiev have stopped offering No. 95 gasoline since Friday.

However, a representative of the Russian oil company Lukoil was reported as saying on Saturday that his firm was still pumping oil to Ukraine as required by the agreement of the two sides. He was not clear which company Tymoshenko was referring to.

Ukraine saw a steep rise in oil prices from late March to early April. Kiev blamed the increase on the monopoly of some Russian oil companies. After the government put controls over the prices of several oil products, the oil market regained stability.

Source: Xinhua