Tough talk: from Dmitri Medvedev
Medvedev puts his foot down
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev today ordered Gazprom to stop advance payments to Ukraine for transit of natural gas across its territory.
In the Kremlin's official transcript of a conversation between Medvedev and Gazprom boss Alexei Miller quoted the Russian president as saying Russia should act in accordance with an agreement signed in January between Moscow and Kiev.
The official transcript contradicted an earlier report from Interfax news agency, which said Medvedev had told Miller not to agree to change gas transit fees.
The Kremlin transcript quoted Miller as telling Medvedev that transit fees to Ukraine had been pre-paid until the end of the first quarter of next year.
"As far as the idea of pre-payment of tariffs is concerned, I want to ask you a simple question: has the agreement been revised?" Medvedev asked Miller.
Miller said it had not.
"Then don't pay," Medvedev said. "We need to act in line with the (January) agreement which was reached."
Last week, Gazprom said it expects gas transit fees via Ukraine to rise by up to 59% in 2010, against Ukraine's expectations of a maximum 60% increase. Gazprom supplies a fifth of Europe's gas needs via Ukraine, a Reuters report said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's Naftogaz said that according to a deal signed with Russia in January, the transit fees that Gazprom must pay are directly linked to the import price of gas used for transit.
"According to the agreement with Gazprom, the price for the fuel (technological) gas is a component in the transit rate and a rise in that technological gas (price) causes a rise in the transit fee," a Naftogaz spokesman told Reuters.