Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom has cut by half gas supply to Ukraine amid rows on gas debt, local media reported on Tuesday.
The Tuesday 8 p.m. Moscow time (GMT 0500) deadline set by Gazprom for the settlement of debt disputes has expired and the company has cut the supply by another 25 percent, Itar-Tass said.
Gazprom cut one quarter of gas supply to Ukraine Monday morning, pressing Kiev to pay off the allegedly 600 million U.S. dollars debt.
Russia's president-elect Dmitry Medvedev urged Kiev to take steps in solving the issue during a Tuesday phone talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
Medvedev, who chairs the board of Gazprom and won a landslide victory in Sunday's presidential election, told Yushchenko that Kiev must honor its commitments under an agreement reached with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Feb. 12.
Yushchenko also congratulated Medvedev on his election victory.
Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said Ukraine had consumed without Russian authorization around 1.9 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas from the beginning of this year, worth some 600 million U.S. dollars.
The two sides failed at the last minute to sign a deal, under which they agreed that Ukraine would pay its debt for Russian gas deliveries and that a new delivery scheme would be worked out, Kupriyanov said.
Ukraine sits on the main transit route for Russia's gas exports to Europe, where a quarter of its gas needs is supplied by Russia.
Gazprom has promised to secure its supply to European market by shipping natural gas there in full volume.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article