President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko has given the government five days to solve the problem of the gas debt to Russia.
According to an UNIAN correspondent, the President claimed this opening the Friday’s session of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.
Victor Yushchenko stressed that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had ordered gas export monopoly Gazprom to ask Ukraine to pay back its gas debt to Russia, which Gazprom estimates at $2.4 billion.
In the opinion of the Ukrainian President, the gas debt occurred because the government did not carry out any payments for fuel supplies.
“I’d like to warn you that this policy may turn Ukraine into a colony”, the President said. He emphasized that officials bear personal responsibility for solving this problem.
“Show me in five days that you solved everything”, the President said, stressing that this is the problem of government and it must find the money to pay back the debt.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on November 20, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev ordered gas export monopoly Gazprom to ask Ukraine to pay back its gas debt to Russia, which Gazprom estimates at $2.4 billion, local agencies reported on Thursday.
