Ukraine considers unreasonable payment of $7 b to Gazprom, says minister

11:38, 07.02.2013 1 min read

Ukraine does not see reasons to pay a $7 billion bill presented by Russia's Gazprom for not taking the earlier contracted amount of natural gas in 2012, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavytsky said.

"We answered that we do not deem it reasonable to honor a $7 billion bill, that is, to pay it, because we see no grounds for this," Stavytsky told journalists in Kyiv on Thursday when asked how Ukraine responded to Gazprom's bill.

"We are complying with all of our contractual obligations," he said.

The Financial Times reported on January 25 that Gazprom had billed Ukraine's Naftogaz $7 billion for not buying agreed volumes of gas in 2012 on take-or-pay terms. Naftogaz confirmed it had received the bill but said it had paid for the Russian gas in full under earlier invoices. Naftogaz has also notified the Russian company several times that it intended to lower gas purchases in 2012.