The Russian minister also informed that representatives of the Crimean energy system had finished preparations of the Crimean infrastructure for the launch of energy bridge from Russia’s Krasnodar region to the peninsula, the Kommersant reported.
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Russia’s state-controlled gas company Gazprom said that it stopped sending gas to Ukraine on Wednesday morning and will supply no more because Ukraine has not paid in advance for more deliveries.
Last winter, the shortage of anthracite coal that many Ukrainian power plants use had caused power cuts and forced Kiev to sign electricity and coal supply contracts with Russian Federation amid the unprecedented crisis in bilateral relations.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller on Wednesday warned Ukraine and Europe of possible gas disruptions following the cut-off.
However, Ukraine said it was its own decision to stop buying gas from Russian Federation after it was offered better prices from other European countries. “For the past year and a half, we have shown that we can ensure the uninterrupted transit of Russian gas regardless of whether it comes to us or not and whether it’s in the summer or winter season”.
“Somewhere in the range of $210 per 1,000 cubic meters”, he told reporters in Kyiv.
Ukraine does not buy gas now, but gas is flowing via Ukraine to other countries and it arrives there without problems in a transparent way, he said.
Ukraine utility Ukrenergo says it has repaired one of the four damaged power lines in the Kherson region that supplies electricity to Crimea.
Crimea gets about 70 percent of its energy from Ukraine.
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“No particular concern” Kiev insisted gas flow to the EU via Ukraine was stable, however, and the European Commission said it had “no particular concern” about the issue. “Until this time, Naftogaz will accept Russian gas only for transportation to Europe”, the statement said.
