Russian President Vladimir Putin. © RIA Novosti. Mikhail Metsel
Putin Calls Ukraine Gas Prepayment Desperate Measure, Says Russia Ready for Dialogue -- RIA Novosti
MOSCOW, May 15 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Moscow had been forced to introduce advance payments for deliveries of natural gas to Ukraine, but remains open for discussion to normalize the situation.
"I would like to emphasize once again that we were forced to make this decision,” Putin said in a letter to EU leaders.
“The situation with payments for Russian gas only got worse over this period of time [since March],” Putin said, emphasizing that Ukraine’s accumulated gas debt has grown from $2.237 billion to $3.508 billion.
Read more ....
Russian President Putin Wants Ukraine To Start Paying Off It's Debt If It Wants Deliveries Of Natural Gas
Ukraine must pay cash for gas, says Russia's Putin -- BBC
Putin says Ukraine must pay cash for gas, starting in June -- CTV/AP
Russia Open To Talks If Ukraine Pays Some Gas Debt -- Radio Free Europe
Russia ‘open’ to gas price negotiations with Ukraine, if they start to repay debt -- RT
Ukraine minister: Russia's turn to give ground on gas talks -- Reuters
Ukraine Ready to Pay $4 Billion for Gas If Russia Lowers Price -- Bloomberg
Moscow Says Ukraine Unable to Pay for Gas Supplies -- RIA Novosti
My Comment: I am surprised that Putin is getting actively involved in these discussions .... I guess he sees some serious problems arising with the rest of the EU if this is not resolved soon. The fact that Putin has also commented that he wants the EU to have a more active role in solving Ukraine's natural gas debt problem tells me that he does not have confidence in the in the interim Ukraine government's ability to solve this problem .... and he is probably right.
Update: Putin's officials are also not optimistic that this is going to be resolved soon.
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