Russia Cuts Off Gas to Ukraine

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Russia has made good on its promise to halt gas supplies to Ukraine following Kiev’s failure to make gas payments by the deadline at the start of this month. According to the Journal, Ukraine is demanding lower prices, but Russia says that those prices are unreasonable. The EU is now admonishing Ukraine not to use up its current natural gas stores, and is worried over a shortage of supplies for both Europe and Ukraine.

As quoted in the publication:

After a final round of late-night talks mediated by the European Union to resolve the impasse ended in failure, Gazprom followed through on a threat it has held out for weeks and halted shipments destined for Ukraine on Monday. The company said it would continue to ship gas headed for export across Ukraine to its customers in Europe. Gazprom had demanded $1.95 billion in arrears from Kiev by Monday morning and had rejected a compromise deal put forward by the EU’s energy chief. Ukraine has refused to pay those debts until Gazprom agreed to reduce its gas price to market levels.

Click here to read the full Wall Street Journal article.