Deputy Ukrainian PM Boiko meets with Gazprom chief for 2nd time in week
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy Boiko and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller spent one day separately before again meeting on Friday at the Russian gas monopoly's central offices in Moscow.
"The parties continued negotiations on a range of issues involved in cooperation in the sphere of gas," Gazprom reported after the meeting on its website.
No information from Ukraine about the talks has yet been forthcoming.
Citing Gazprom, it was reported that their previous meeting had been on February 6, and "the parties discussed issues of mutual interest." At the meeting before that on January 22, which was as usual held in Moscow, the parties talked about "the prospects for bilateral strategic cooperation between Ukraine and Russia."
Gazprom presented Naftogaz Ukrainy with a bill for $7.09 billion last month. The Russian gas monopoly thinks the Ukrainian company had violated the 'take or pay' stipulation in their 2009 contract, taking just 24.9 billion cubic meters (bcm) of a minimum accessible amount of 41.6 bcm with no changes having been made to the contract. Ukraine has already announced that it does not intend to pay the bill and had previously cautioned Gazprom of reduced gas purchases.