Russia warns of gas supply cuts if Ukraine does not pay...

Russia warns of gas supply cuts if Ukraine does not pay bills
MOSCOW Thu Apr 10, 2014 10:17am EDT
0 CommentsTweet inShare.0Share thisEmailPrintMOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia could cut natural gas supplies to Ukraine if it fails to pay its gas bills on time and warned there could be a reduction in onward deliveries to Europe.

Calling for urgent consultations with Europe on stabilizing Ukraine's economy in a letter to European leaders, seen by Reuters, Putin also said 11.5 billion cubic meters of gas, worth $5.5 billion, needed to be pumped into Ukrainian gas storages to guarantee uninterrupted transit.

State-controlled gas producer Gazprom stopped pumping gas to Ukraine during price disputes in the winters of 2005-2006 and 2008-2009, leading to reduced supplies in European countries that receive Russian gas via pipelines that cross Ukraine.

(Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk, Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

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I hope the greenies who are delaying UK's shale and CBM projects are happy when elderly deaths start happening next winter due to prohibitively expensive gas prices if RU supplies get cut.