Cooler heads seem to be prevailing in the ongoing natural gas dispute between Russian giant Gazprom and the Ukrainian government, and Russian officials have confirmed Gazprom has delayed a June 9 deadline for prepayment as talks continue.
Ukraine owes Gazprom several billion dollars for past shipments, and after the ouster of the Yanukovych government Russia cut long-standing discounted pricing to Ukraine. Between that and the continued non-payment, there was a real danger Ukraine could have faced a shutoff on June 9. potentially disrupting supplies to the rest of Europe from Russia, which go through the same pipelines.
Ukraine’s interim government was adamant about not paying, but on Friday the state natural gas monopoly paid Gazprom $786 million to cover gas supplies from February and March.
Disputes over pricing (Ukraine still wants the discounted rate) remain to be resolved in future negotiations, but Gazprom’s willingness to let the June 9 deadline slide suggests there is growing confidence that a mutually acceptable agreement can be reached.
The cut off was supposed to be June 3d, not the 9th.
Ukraine actually has Putin by the throat. His failure to seize the Kharkov – Sebastopol railway line and the six provinces that lie to the east of it means that Crimea is worse than useless to him; it has become an expensive white elephant! The obvious deal is cheap gas in exchange for cheap freight rates on the Ukrainian railways for supplies to the Russian military bases in Crimea. The long way round via the Kerch Strait train ferry is awkward and even a bridge, which woulkd take several years to build anyway, wouldn't alter the roundabout nature of the journey. Thus, it's no wonder that Putin is backing off on gas prices as well as all the rest.