“The refusal to buy Russian gas will create serious risks for the reliable transit of gas to Europe through Ukraine and for the supply of gas to Ukrainian consumers during the upcoming winter”, Miller warned.
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On Wednesday, the chief executive of the Russian energy giant Gazprom said in a statement that gas supplies to Ukraine would be cut off that day until Russia received prepayment for further deliveries. Russia’s state-controlled gas company, Gazprom, said Wednesday that it stopped sending gas to Ukraine on Wednesday because Ukraine has not paid in advance for more deliveries.
Last month, the two countries banned landings by each other’s airlines.
Speaking at a cabinet session in Kyiv on November 25, Yatsenyuk asked the Infrastructure Ministry to officially notify Russia about “the closure of [Ukrainian] airspace to all Russian airlines without exception”. The press service of the Federal Customs Service said that “it had no information on the issue”, while JSC Russian Railways assured that there were no restrictions on supplies to Ukraine.
“The position of the European Commission on the Nord Stream II project will also essentially influence the perception of the EU’s common foreign and security policy among its core allies and traditional partners”, the letter, seen by Reuters, said.
The announcement by Kiev’s pro-Western government came only moments after Russian Federation announced plans to halt gas shipments to energy-dependent Ukraine starting Thursday.
Some analysts and politicians in Kiev accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of using the world’s focus on his campaign in Syria as cover for launching a new phase in the Ukrainian war.
Ukraine is a key transit country for Russian gas to Europe.
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Russia briefly cut gas supplies to Ukraine in July and in June 2014 as Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces clashed, following the ouster of president Viktor Yanukovych. Parts of Ukraine’s industrial heartland are in ruins. The energy row spilled over into regional politics, putting former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in the cross-hairs for her role in breaking the 2009 impasse over bilateral contracts.
