Ukraine Stops Purchase of Russian gas, Naftogaz to Continue Transport to Europe

Ukraine decided to stop purchases of Russian gas, with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk saying that Russia “must have misunderstood; they did not cut off gas supplies to us, we are the ones who are not buying it.”

Several media outlets wrote on Wednesday that Gazprom is halting discoveries as a result of an escalation between the two countries due to natural gas pricing.

Yatsenyuk partly confirmed the news saying that Ukraine has an incentive to buy gas from the European Union because of “better pricing offers.”

"This is the only right way, on the one hand, to get rid of Russian gas dependence, on the other hand - to reduce consumption of gas, to spend less money on the purchase of Russian gas, and to make Ukraine totally energy independent state within ten years,” he said in a statement released in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Naftogaz said it expects to receive all prepaid volumes of Russian gas today, adding it will continue to transport Russian gas to the European consumers in full accordance with the existing contracts. 

“During the past 18 months we have demonstrated that we can ensure stable transmission of Russian gas regardless of whether we get it for Ukraine or not, both in the summer and the winter seasons. At this time a year ago we did not buy any gas from Russia, having less gas in storages and smaller import capacities from the EU. As far as we are aware, both Gazprom and its clients are satisfied with the quality and reliability of our transmission services,” Andriy Kobolyev, CEO of Naftogaz, commented in a separate press release.