Ukraine pays off March bill for Russian gas supply

 Ukraine`s state-run Naftogas said Monday it has paid in full the bill for March deliveries of the natural gas from Russia, according to Xinhua.

"Naftogas has paid 865 million U.S. dollars to Russian gas-giant Gazprom for natural gas supplies in March 2012," the company said in a statement.

It said Ukraine bought around 2 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia at the price of 416 U.S. dollars per thousand cubic meters in March.

Ukraine, which relies heavily on Russian gas imports, insists the current price created a fiscal burden and suggested 250 dollars per thousand cubic meters would be a fairer price.

Naftogas had said Ukraine would have to borrow two billion dollars from a Russian bank to cover part of the costs for gas imports.