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Kiev has funds to settle debt of $880 mln to Gazprom

The payments started on Monday
ITAR-TASS/Vitaly Grabar
ITAR-TASS/Vitaly Grabar

KIEV, November 5 (Itar-Tass) - The Naftogaz Ukrainy company began repaying to Russia’s gas giant Gazprom the debt of 880 million dollars for gas supplied in August 2013, Eduard Stavitsky, the Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Coal Industry, told reporters on Tuesday.

“The payments started on Monday,” the minister said, making assurances that “there are enough funds to settle the debt.”

The minister’s press secretary Marina Tatarchuk did not go into details as to the sum to be repaid and the expected timeframe of the debt’s payment, saying “the ministry will supply this information later.”

Ukraine’s debt for gas to Russia makes up 882 million dollars. The volume of the debt as of November 1 went up by 7.7 million dollar interest.

Stavitsky had earlier promised that the Ukrainian side would have settled the gas debt to Russia past Monday. He said Naftogaz Ukrainy would repay Gazprom for gas delivered in August by exempting indebtedness from Ukrainian heating and utilities enterprises.

The government is requiring payments by heating and utilities enterprise to Naftogas to settle the debt to Gazprom with these funds, the minister said the other day.