Russia halts gas supplies to Ukraine

Gas giant Gazprom said yesterday it was halting all natural gas supplies to Ukraine after pricing talks broke down in the latest row between Russia and its war-torn ex-Soviet neighbour.

"Ukraine did not pay for July gas supplies," Gazprom chief Alexei Miller said in a statement.

"Gazprom has halted gas supplies to Ukraine from 10 am (0700 GMT) July 1," he said.

He stressed that no more gas would be sent to the pro-Western country without prepayment no matter what the future price will be, adding that the gas pricing formula for Ukraine would not be changed until late 2019.

The Kremlin declined to comment.

The announcement came after Ukraine declared Tuesday it was suspending all purchases of natural gas from Russia after EU-mediated negotiations in Vienna aimed at keeping supplies running broke down.

Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz indicated that gas supplies to Europe would not be affected, saying it would continue transporting Russian gas supplies westward to its other European clients.

Ukraine's energy minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn yesterday said Kiev was ready to continue talks.

A senior European official said that gas supplies to Ukraine and the EU would not be endangered.

"Both gas deliveries to Ukraine and transit to the EU are not endangered," said Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission's vice-president for energy union.

Russia supplies around a third of Europe's gas, some half of it flowing via Ukraine.