Photo from UNIAN
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has delivered to the occupied Donbas natural gas worth $600 million, but it demands that Ukraine pay for these supplies, an UNIAN correspondent in Russia reported from a Moscow press conference held by deputy head of Gazprom Alexander Medvedev in Moscow.
"We have a single contract for the supply of gas to Ukraine, including [to] Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where the Ukrainian citizens live and Ukrainian companies operate. There are no separate bills, and we have not seen payments totaling nearly $600 million," Medvedev said.
He said that Ukraine was handed "general bills, and the gas has been flowing under a single contract."
As UNIAN reported earlier, on May 18, the National Joint Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine has not received gas from the Russian Gazprom on the entry points to the Ukrainian gas transportation system, located on the territory beyond government control, according to Naftogaz’s statement. The statement was published in connection with Gazprom’s demands to pay $0.67 billion for gas supposedly delivered to consumers in Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the period between February 2015 and April 2016.
Read alsoUkraine marks 5 mths without Russian gasNJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine has not been purchasing gas from PJSC Gazprom since November 2015, and before that time, the company imported gas exclusively through the entry points to the GTS in the government-controlled territory. The whole volume of gas purchased by Naftogaz have been accounted for by the parties and paid for by Naftogaz,” according to the Ukrainian state-owned holding.
On June 26, 2015, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said that the debt of Naftogaz of Ukraine for gas deliveries (704 million cubic meters) to the occupied Donbas amounted to $212 million.
Read alsoPoland aims to end long-term gas supplies from Russia On February 20, 2015, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia would start supplying gas to Donbas "based on the requests of the gas structures of the ‘unrecognized republics’."