Ukraine entirely closed its airspace for Russian airlines, including those operating transit flights, TASS quoted Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk as saying November 25 at a government meeting.
Advertisement
The demand from pro-Russian rebels to secede from Ukraine has also worsened the relations between Kiev and Moscow.
“Russian airlines and Russian planes no more have the right to use Ukranian airspace”, he said.
“All companies that operate in the European market – no matter if they are European or not – have to play by our EU rules”, EU’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said at the time, adding: “We find that it (Gazprom) may have built artificial barriers preventing gas from flowing from certain Central Eastern European countries to others, hindering cross-border competition”.
Russian Federation cut off its deliveries to Ukraine in July after both sides failed to agree on pricing, but a deal was clinched in September for supplies for the winter. That means that supplies will be halted until Gazprom receives new prepayments from the Ukrainian company, the Russian company said.
“Military activities have intensified”, Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council said in a statement.
He said gas consumption had been as much as 19 percent lower year on year this season and estimated that reserves would stand at around 16 billion cubic metres by early December, 2 billion higher than at the same point last year.
The head of Russia’s state-run natural gas export monopoly, Gazprom, said it is stopping supplies to Ukraine.
Alexei Miller, the top executive at Gazprom, said there would be no future deliveries to Ukraine until Naftogaz issues a new payment.
The disruption is the second of its kind this year.
About 15% of gas used in Europe travels through Ukraine.
Nearly 2 million people on the Crimean peninsula were left without light or heat Saturday night after two explosions damaged power lines from Ukraine.
Advertisement
The disruption came during attempts by Crimea’s ethnic minority Tatars and Ukrainian nationalists to blockade the region and prompt its forced return to the mainland.
