Kremlin Asks Ukraine to Prepay Gas from June

The Kremlin announced it would require Ukraine to pay in advance for gas starting from June, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday as reported by Reuters. 

Gazprom said on Wednesday that Kiev did not live up to its obligations, not paying for its gas supplies. The missed payment push Ukraine’s total debt to $3.51 billion. 

"According to contract... failure of obligations automatically leads to a switch to prepayment for gas deliveries for Ukraine starting from June 1," Novak said in a note.

The country increased by 77% its April imports from Russia with respect to the same period of 2013. Ukraine imported 2.6 billion cubic meters in one month and some experts expect it to step up its imports also in May.