News Daily Spot: Russia cuts gas and reduces carbon Ukraine

more news

Russia cuts gas and reduces carbon Ukraine

The dispute between Russia and Ukraine over energy supplies escalated Wednesday with Moscow's decision to cut this morning (local) gas supplies to the neighboring country because Kiev has not prepaid shipping fuel.

The measure has not surprised because Kiev had reported that at the moment there would need Russian gas. In turn, Moscow tightened the conditions for supplying coal to Ukraine. Observers see these measures in reaction to the massive power outage in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014, DPA reported.

On Saturday, the electricity supply was cut from Ukraine to Crimea with blasting light poles, in an act of protest that allegedly conducted Crimean Tatars and Ukrainian nationalists.



The director of the Russian company Gazprom, Alexei Miller, said in Moscow: "There is no prepayment and no new orders, so we have cut the supply (gas)".

Miller spoke of the "serious risks" that it is to supply Western Europe. Ukraine is the main transit country for Russian gas to Western Europe.

December is scheduled a new round of negotiations on the first quarter of 2016. The European Union (EU) sees supply suspension in peace. "The (European) Commission is particularly concerned that the gas flow," said a spokeswoman in Brussels.

The Russian-Ukrainian company Naftogaz said it will comply with all its commitments. It will buy gas from Russia only if necessary. "In the last year and a half have desmostrado we can ensure the transit of Russian gas without interruptions, whether you supply to Ukraine or not," said the chairman of Naftogaz, Andrei Kobolev. "To our knowledge, both Gazprom and customers are happy with the quality of our services and lafiabilidad transit".

For Ukraine, the cut coal supply will be more dramatic than the suspension of gas cutting. "During this month, 40% of power plants for heating will run out of coal if we do not get supplies from other sources," the acting director of the state company Ukrenergo, Vsevolod Kovaltshuk, the Internet portal "Segodnya. ua ".

In a Russian newspaper it indicated exports today already had reduced the former Soviet republic.

The measure is a response to the power outage in Crimea, according to the experts. In the Crimea, about one million people have been left without electricity after power lines Saturday serving electricity from Ukraine attack. One of the four main lines will be repaired in the coming days.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered before December 20 a new connection from Russia, crossing the Strait of Kerch is installed. A second line will be installed in the first part of 2016. Putin he blamed the Ukrainian government cut electricity and spoke of sabotage.

The relationship between the two countries has become worse lately. Kiev and Moscow often discussed by the gas. In October it was possible to overcome a conflict about with the mediation of the EU and the supply was resumed.

click here