Russia halts gas supplies to Ukraine

MOSCOW – Russian gas giant Gazprom announced on July 1 it was halting all natural gas supplies to Ukraine after Kyiv announced the immediate suspension of Russian gas purchases a day earlier. “Ukraine did not pay for July gas supplies. Gazprom halted gas supplies to Ukraine from 10 a.m. July 1,” Gazprom said in a statement. Ukraine said on June 30 it will stop buying gas from Russia from July 1 until new supply conditions are agreed. Ukraine’s state-run energy firm Naftohaz said, “The shipment of gas across Ukraine for Gazprom’s European clients will continue in full.” The announcement came after a breakdown of European Union-mediated price negotiations in Vienna aimed at keeping supplies running for the next three to six months. Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchishin said the next round of talks will be held in September. His Russian counterpart, Aleksandr Novak, said Ukraine’s decision to stop buying Russian gas was “political.” The European Commission conceded that Ukraine and Russia’s positions remain “far apart.” Russia dramatically increased the price it charges Ukraine for gas following the February 2014 ouster of Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych. The EU has since forged a series of temporary agreements. Ukraine is also increasingly relying on gas purchases from other European states. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Interfax and TASS)