Kiev: Ec To Be Guarantor İn Russia, Ukraine Gas Deal

The EU and Kiev have agreed the European Commission will serve as a guarantor in any agreement with Russia over Ukraine's gas supplies, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said, after overnight talks brokered by the EU failed to reach a deal.



His comments came on Thursday as talks in Brussels brokered by EU Energy Minister Guenther Ottinger between Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan and his Russian counterpart, Alexander Novak, continued in a bid to ensure deliveries of Russian gas to Ukraine ahead of the winter.



 Yatsenyuk was "ed by Russian news agency Ria Novosti as saying:  "If Russia violates the pricing procedure and decides to establish a price of $500 [per 1,000 cubic meters], as initially proposed, the European Commission, as we have agreed, will act as the guarantor of Russia's fulfillment of the price obligations..."



He said the payment could also be made through "the mechanism of price-hike compensation, if such a [higher] price is not in line with the trilateral agreement signed between the European Commission [the EU's executive body], Ukraine and Russia".



The talks come four months after Russian energy giant Gazprom, the largest extractor of natural gas in the world, cut gas supplies to Ukraine, claiming Kiev's national oil company Naftogaz had not paid its gas bill of about $4.5 billion.



Prices doubled



Russia has said it will not restore gas supplies to Ukraine unless it pays $3.1 billion of the debt this year.



Russia doubled its gas prices in April following the ouster of the pro-Russian government under Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev in February.



Naftogaz chief Executive Andriy Kobolev has said the company has the money to pay the sum by the end of this year.



However, Kiev has demanded Russia guarantees the agreement is fixed and will not change.



Russia demanded, during the previous trilateral gas talks between Russia, Ukraine and the EU in Brussels on October 21, that Ukraine pays $1.6 billion in advance for deliveries of gas in November and December.



With gas supplies from Russia reaching the EU through Ukraine, disputes over gas prices between Russia and Ukraine in 2006 and 2009 prompted Gazprom to cut supplies, causing gas shortages in Europe during freezing temperatures. 



www.aa.com.tr/en - Brüksel