Russia to allow Ukraine to continue importing gas

Doris Leblond
OGJ Correspondent

PARIS, Sept. 4 -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, meeting Sept. 1 with his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko in Poland, agreed to “let Ukraine continue importing and paying for only as much gas as its struggling economy needs—currently about half of what its contract with Gazprom binds it to buy,” reported the Moscow Times (MT) on Sept. 2.

Putin added that Gazprom and state energy company Naftogaz Ukrainy would handle the details. MT noted, however, that “neither prime ministers indicated the timespan of their agreement,” adding that Russia’s recent standoffs with Ukraine over payments had left many countries without gas for many weeks in January.

MT also reported that Putin said Russia is ready to supply 2 billion cu m of gas to Poland previously bought through RosUkrEnergo, the now-defunct Russian-Ukrainian intermediary.

MT reported that the issue of Nord Stream—the proposed pipeline to carry Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, which would deprive Poland of future gas transit revenue, “appeared to have lost some its weight in the Russian-Polish relations.”