RosUkrEnergo's gas stocks in underground storage facilities were bought from Gazprom and paid last year and have nothing to do with Ukraine's current debts, RosUkrEnergo Press Secretary Andrei Knutov told the Gas Information Agency.
Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Ukrainian Prime-Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said that the debt whose payment Gazprom demands from Ukraine is RosUkrEnergo's indebtedness for 11.5 billion cubic meters of gas stored in Ukrainian underground facilities.
Knutov told GIA that "in line with the written confirmation of Naftogaz Ukrainy that was provided to RosUkrEnergo AG during an international audit, in Ukraine's underground storage facilities there were 14.39 billion cubic meters of natural gas belonging to RosUkrEnergo as of December 31, 2007."
"The company has the conclusion drawn up by an international auditing firm. The said amount of gas was bought and paid by RosUkrEnergo before December 31, 2007," he said.
"We're drawing attention that it is Naftogaz Ukrainy's debt to RosUkrEnergo for gas worth $2.4 billion that is an obstacle to our settlements with Gazprom," he added.
