The European Commission has denied any claims that the EU guarantees payments for Russian gas by the Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy during the winter period.

You have heard a lot that the EU has guaranteed the payment, it's not true, Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, the director for energy markets at the European Commission, said at a press conference organized by the European Policy Centre in Brussels on Thursday.

The EC representative said that the arrangements on gas deliveries included only an agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

The International Monetary Fund told the National Bank of Ukraine that it can use its reserves to pay for gas, he said.

As reported on October 30, Ukraine, Russia and the EU reached an agreement about natural gas shipments for the period until the end of March 2015. One of the issues at the talks raised by Moscow was that of the guarantees for gas supply.