KIEV: Energy-starved Ukraine said yesterday it had received the first Russian natural gas shipments since a politically charged price dispute saw Moscow cut off its Westward-leaning neighbour in June.
The resumption of gas flows means the war-scarred nation of 45 million people should have enough supplies to heat homes through the bitter winter months.
Ukraine was forced to delay school openings by a month and postpone the launch of winter household heating due to fast-depleting fuel reserves.
Western allies and global markets hope an interim solution to the two sides’ longest-ever gas dispute bodes well for peace returning to the outer edge of the European Union’s eastern frontier. “Imports from Russia began two days earlier than planned,” Ukraine’s gas transport company Ukrtransgaz said in a statement.
The former Soviet republic received nearly half its gas from Russia prior to a February revolution that ousted a Moscow-backed leadership and saw its successors strike a landmark EU partnership pact.
The dramatic political shift out of Russia’s orbit prompted Moscow to cancel the special rates it had offered Ukraine’s more compliant rulers.
Kiev called the near doubling of its gas bill a form of “economic aggression” and refused to pay up.
Months of EU-led negotiations made no progress and Russia halted the flow of gas meant for Ukraine — but not its other European clients — on June 16.
EU mediations ultimately produced a six-month deal at the end of October that requires Ukraine to pay Russia $3.1bn by the end of the year to cover past debts. AFP
