Reuters: Russian energy minister says unaware of pre-payment from Ukraine for gas

Russia's energy minister said he was unaware of any pre-payment from Ukraine for gas supplies on Monday, the day the deadline was expiring for Kiev to pay for December supplies.

"...We have no information that the pre-payment funds for the December supplies have arrived," Alexander Novak told reporters. "Despite claims from the Ukrainian side that there is a desire to pay for 1 billion cubic metres (bcm), we have not received these funds yet."

Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said last week Kiev might make a pre-payment to Russia for gas before Dec. 1, reiterating that the country expected to buy up to 1.5 billion (bcm) of gas from Russia by the end of the year.