KIEV, April 28. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine is ready to pay the price of 268 US dollars per 1,000 cubic metres of Russian gas, parliament-appointed Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on Monday, April 28.

This is 45% below the established price of gas. If Moscow disagrees, Kiev will be prepared to contest its debt in court, he said.

Yatsenyuk told reporters that a “note” had been sent to Russia’s Gazprom, which “states the price”. If Gazprom accepts the proposed terms, Ukraine will pay the gas debt of 2.2 billion US dollars immediately. If no solution is found within 30 days, the dispute will be taken to court.

Kiev’s debt has reached 2.2 billion US dollars since January 2014 and will reach 3.5 billion US dollars by the middle of May when the next payment is due.

Naftogaz of Ukraine’s overall debt to Gazprom for taking less gas than required under the take-or-pay contract is about 18.5 billion US dollars.

Gazprom charged Naftogaz of Ukraine 11.388 billion US dollars for taking less gas than had been contracted in 2013: the Ukrainian company too only 12.9 billion of the required 41.6 billion cubic metres.