Today at 10:00 MSK Russia stopped gas supplies to Ukraine, Gazprom chairman Alexey Miller stated.
"Gazprom will not deliver gas to Ukraine at any price without pre-payment, and Ukraine did not pay anything," the head of Gazprom noted, TASS reports.
Deputy of the Energy Directorate, Director of the Institute for Energy and Finance Alexei Belogoriev, told Vestnik Kavkaza that last summer there was approximately the same situation due to the low demand of the gas in the summer from Ukraine. "In fact, a "dead season" has arrived, when the involvement of parties in the signing of a new agreement is low: a low demand for gas in Ukraine and in Europe, respectively, the risks associated with the transit of gas for Gazprom are lower. So we are not facing a definite failure in the negotiations. The parties have at least two or three months for a calm negotiation mode, so the key issue is to agree on the supplies for the winter – this is important for Russia and Ukraine and the EU," the expert said.
Analyst of Sberbank CIB Valery Nesterov, in turn, noted that the situation during this summer is significantly different from last year. "In 2014, oil prices were different, and this is important. Russia is now in a difficult situation and cannot deliver the gas at below-market prices – and Ukraine wants 200 dollars for 1 thousand cubic meters, which is below the market. Yes, Ukraine is now in the summer season, doesn't need gas that much, and also says that during the winter 16 billion cubic meters will be enough, hoping that in the extreme case they will buy the missing gas on the reverse. But what does this reverse mean? Buying all the same Russian gas, so this is just a continuation of the Ukrainian gas policy. Gazprom has already tried to limit the reverse, so that Ukraine got less gas through Poland, Slovakia and Romania, but this practice is not justified," he noted.
