Moscow Times: South Stream Dragged into Russia-Ukraine Gas Spat as Rhetoric Spikes
Just as it seemed that a solution to the gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia was near, Ukraine has returned to its old price demands and the European Union has set to sabotaging Russia's South Stream pipeline to Europe, darkening the prospects of a deal with only days to go before Gazprom could cut supplies.
On Monday, Gazprom agreed to delay switching Ukraine to prepayment for gas deliveries until June 9, giving it a week to settle debts over which it threatens to cut supplies to Kiev, possibly resulting in disruption of gas transit to Europe.
But as the heads of Russia's Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz sat down for a new round of gas price negotiations in Berlin on Tuesday, Ukrainian acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk took to the podium in Ukraine's parliament in Kiev to say that the "right" price for both Gazprom and Ukraine would be $268 per thousand cubic meters, far below the average price of $370 paid by European buyers.