You're reading: FRANCE 24: Medvedev scraps Ukraine visit after gas merger fails

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has scrapped plans to visit Ukraine for a Navy Day parade after Kiev balked at Moscow's proposal to merge the countries' state gas firms, Kommersant said on Monday. Citing sources in the Ukrainian foreign ministry and the Kremlin administration, the newspaper said the signing of an agreement to merge Russia's Gazprom with Ukraine's Naftogaz was the main condition of Medvedev's Sunday visit to the Crimean port of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based. Read more.