ANKARA
Ukrainian state-owned gas company Naftogaz announced Friday that it made a prepayment of $30 million to Russia’s natural gas company Gazprom.
According to the announcement, the transfer was for April's natural gas purchase. There was no additional information on how long the paid amount would supply Ukraine's gas needs nor when the next payment would be made.
On April 1, a three-month agreement was signed, under which Ukraine will import natural gas from Russia at $248 per 1,000 cubic meters -- far less than the current $329.
Gazprom had increased Ukraine's gas prices from $286 per 1000 cubic meters to $485 in April 2014, terminating its previous, and more favorable, agreement with the former pro-Russian government of Ukraine amid the conflict in the eastern part of the country with pro-Russian separatists.
Calling Russia's decision a "declaration of economic war," Ukraine had sought to negotiate a new price given that European countries paid between $300 and $350 and refused to pay its debt or adhere to the price hike.
After long negotiations by the European Commission, Moscow, Kiev and the EU signed a deal in October to secure the flow of Russian natural gas to Ukraine last winter, with a deadline set for March 2015.
After the trilateral talks, Ukraine paid $378 per 1,000 cubic meters to Russia during the last quarter of 2014.
