05.03 Gazprom Says Ukraine Gas Debt Set to Hit $2Bln

NOVO-OGARYOVO, March 5 (RIA Novosti) – The head of Russia’s state-run energy company Gazprom said Wednesday that Ukraine’s debt for natural gas deliveries is set to rise by $440 million, to just short of $2 billion.

Alexei Miller said that Ukraine has paid off $10 million of an outstanding $1.53 billion debt accumulated for previous gas consignments, but that arrears would rise again Friday on account of February deliveries.

The rise comes on top of a Gazprom announcement this week that it plans in April to annul a major discount on gas sales that had been negotiated with the government of Ukraine’s now-ousted President Viktor Yanukovych.

Miller told Russian President Vladimir Putin at a government meeting outside Moscow on Wednesday that he had been informed by his Ukrainian counterparts that the full sum owed for February could not be settled.