Russia Gas Flows Still Frozen; Ukraine Banks On Mild Weather To Hold Out -- Reuters
(Reuters) - Ukraine signaled it may hold off from paying Russia's billion-dollar gas invoice - part of an EU-brokered agreement to restart supplies frozen since June - in the hope mild weather can help it last out longer as it grapples with near-bankruptcy.
EU officials worked out a deal two weeks ago under which Ukraine would pay Moscow $1.45 billion towards what it owed for gas supplies to ease a standoff over prices - and lift the threat to Europe, which relies on Ukraine as a key transit point for fuel.
But Russia has insisted that Ukraine must also pay for future supplies in advance: $760 million, according to gas export monopoly Gazprom, for the 2 billion cubic meters of gas due to be supplied this month.
Read more ....
My Comment: Why am I not surprise. The real reason why Ukraine is not paying off Russia is simple .... they have no money, and Europe is reluctant to give them any fearing that it would be used to fund the war in the east and/or be spent elsewhere.
WNU Editor: Here are two sobering articles on the dismal state of the Ukraine economy.
One year into crisis, Ukraine default risks mount -- Marton Eder, Stars and Stripes/Bloomberg News
Ukraine’s economy: Worse to come -- The Economist
12 comments:
WNU,
What type of energy do the Separatist Regions have? Are they being supplied by Russia?
The coal industry is huge ... so they are self sufficient there. Also .... Russia is delivering gas and other energy supplies .... and from what I understand they are charging little if anything for it.
Well, hopefully that takes care of some of your relatives. Hope you don't have any in the west.
I have an aunt in Kharkiv (It is Ukraine's second largest city and it is a stone's throw away from Luhansk). But all my other relatives are in Kiev, 40km south of Kiev, and west of Odessa on the Black Sea.
That's not good. Are most of them older? Are you able to keep in touch pretty well?
My aunt in Kharkiv is the only senior that I have in Ukraine ... she us OK. All my other relatives are cousins who are younger than me. I keep in touch with most of the on a weekly basis .... more so this year because of the crisis in the country.
Can your aunt move if necessary (or should I say, will she move)?
Her kids with their families have left to Russia. Kharkiv is on the border with Russia .... so crossing the border was/is easy. She and her husband have refused to leave. They have a nice home, and they have no interest to leave.
Their decision to stay has been invaluable to me. Her husband knows a lot of people, and they feed me a lot of information that is unavailable in the press or more public sources.
I assume (and I believe you've told me also) they lived through WWII in that area. That also gives them and you a frame of reference for what they see and experience. There is brave, there is foolhardy, and then there is I've lived to a certain age and this is what I'll do regardless of the consequences
This aunt is on my mother's side, and they are from the Russian city of Vyazma. They survived living in a cave on the outskirts of the city during the war.
This city has an incredible history .... especially during the Second World War. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyazma
The family on my mother's side was the only family that survived intact from this city during the German invasion. Out of a population of about 60,000 before the war, only 800 survived. Five years ago my mother and her sisters visited the city .... they were guests of honor at City Hall. They got the gold key and everything else and it was quite a sight to see. On a personal note, my cousins and I own the land where my grandparents/mother lived. And yes .... it always feel weird to go back there.
And people wonder why Russians are a little touchy about certain things.
Much of what Russia does via international relations/military/national security/etc. is based on it's World War II experience. By understanding this context one will understand why Russia does what it does .... especially today.
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