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Russia-Ukraine gas dispute

Delegation of Naftogaz of Ukraine to arrive in Moscow

It may meet with Gazprom head Alexei Miller

© ITAR-TASS/Sergey Davydkov

MOSCOW, April 03, 3:14 /ITAR-TASS/. A delegation of Ukraine's Naftogaz company will arrive on Thursday in Moscow where it may meet with Gazprom head Alexei Miller.

Gazprom has not commented.

If the meeting is held, it will be its first contact with Ukrainian parliament-appointed energy and coal mining minister Yuri Prodan and new Naftogaz head Andrei Kobolev after the change of power in Ukraine.

Ukraine, as before, does not pay in full for Russian gas. Its accumulated debt amounts to 1.7 billion dlrs. Naftogaz of Ukraine must pay for the March supplies before April 7.

An informed source said he doubted any decision would be reached on Thursday. Quite possibly, the sides would only be acquainted with each other, he supposed.

Miller said last Tuesday that for Ukraine the gas price was set at 385.5 dollars for 1,000 cub/m for the second quarter. As is noted, it is not an increase, but a return to the earlier contract agreements, as Ukraine has not fulfilled the obligation under the additional agreement (December 2013), which stipulated a 100-dollar discount for timely payment.

On April 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law denouncing the Kharkov agreements that gave the 100-dollar discount for a thousand cub/m.

Russia in the third quarter may cancel the discount for Ukraine and increase the price by 100 dollar to 480 dollars a thousand cub/m, Deputy Head of the National Energy Security Fund Alexei Grivach told Itar-Tass earlier. He said that after the formalization of the denunciation of the Kharkov agreements, the price would rise by 100 dollars.

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Foreign policy Russia-Ukraine Gas Dispute

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