Kaniv, Cherkasy region, December 26 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has said she sees no reasons for Moscow to worry about Ukraine's ability to pay for natural gas imports from Russia.
"We have heard such statements at the end of every month for at least a year, and we, Ukraine, are confidently and steadily managing our financial affairs amid the crisis," Tymoshenko said at a Saturday news conference in Kaniv, the Cherkasy region, in commenting on Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller’s Friday remark.
It was reported earlier that Miller had described the situation surrounding Ukraine’s payments for December shipments of gas from Russia as "very alarming."
Speaking on the Vesti-24 television channel on Friday, Miller said Gazprom was talking to its Ukrainian partners on a daily basis, and "we can see and hear that Ukraine is having very serious problems in paying for the December gas supplies from Russia."
Ukraine has increased its consumption of Russian gas since the start of December, Miller said. Apart from cold weather, this increase could be due to Ukraine’s plans to pump more gas into its underground storage facilities, he said.
"It was also clear that consumption volumes are growing for another, simple reason, that Ukraine apparently planned to pump more extra gas this month because the prices for Ukraine will be fully market-based starting January," he said.
At the same time, "the Russian gas consumption has decreased significantly since mid-December, which indirectly signals that Ukraine is having serious problems with paying for the Russian gas," Miller said. "Today our Ukrainian colleagues are taking much less than what is planned and fixed in the contract," Miller said.
Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrainy earlier agreed to postpone the December payment deadline to January 11 from January 7 due to the New Year’s holidays.
