Ukraine pledges to repay Gazprom

RFE/RL Newsline

KYIV - First Vice Prime Minister Anatolii Holubchenko has said Ukraine will pay its debt to Gazprom for gas supplies by the end of 1998, Ukrainian Television reported.

Mr. Holubchenko's statement followed a meeting between Gazprom chief executive Rem Viakhirev and Ukrainian Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko in Kyiv on June 24. The two men discussed payments for Russian gas supplied to Ukraine last year and joint use of Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities.

Mr. Holubchenko added that Ukraine is interested in signing a long-term agreement on Russian gas transit through Ukrainian territory. He said such an agreement would guarantee that Russia will not build an alternate pipeline bypassing Ukraine. Ukraine's gas debt to Gazprom amounts to some $700 million.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 19, 1998, No. 29, Vol. LXVI

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