The statement of Gazprom RJSC about the debt was not unexpected for the government of Ukraine, but the amount of $1.3 billion is exaggerated.
According to an UNIAN correspondent, Top Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov claimed this to a press conference today.
At the same time, he stressed that the matter may concern not the debt of Ukraine, but the debt, existing between economic subjects.
“We [the government of Ukraine - UNIAN] do not owe any cent. The matter may concern only payments between subjects of economical activity”, M.Azarov claimed, specifying that these subjects are RosUkrEnergo and UkrGazEnergo.
The Deputy Premier does not rule out that the debt could appear as Ukraine accumulated a record quantity of gas – 32 billion cubic meters. “In the process of accumulating this quantity of gas, some questions, connected with the payment, are quite possible, I admit that”, he said.
However, he stressed that the amount, voiced by Gazprom, is exaggerated.
“It is out of the question, this amount of debt, about which he [the Gazprom spokesman - UNIAN] said, definitely, it is out of the question. Obviously, he used, let’s say, inadequate information”, M.Azarov claimed.
He stressed that the statement was not a surprise for the government, as last week they decided that Ukrainian Fuel-Energy Minister Yuri Boyko will leave for Moscow to solve this issue, and issues of oil transit.
At the same time, he expressed a belief that the statement of Gazprom is not connected with the political situation in the country.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said Tuesday it would cut gas supplies to Ukraine, which transports 80 percent of Russian gas supplies to Western Europe, if Kyiv does not pay over a billion dollars debt for earlier deliveries this month.
