Gas dispute with Russia not to affect Europe: Ukraine

Kiev, Feb 28: Ukraine's state-run energy company Naftogaz said here on Friday that a fresh flare-up in the gas dispute between Kiev and Moscow will not harm gas supplies to Europe.

"We see no linkage between supply of Russian gas to Ukraine and its transit to Europe," Xinhua quoted Naftogaz's head Andrey Kobolev as saying at a press conference.

Kiev stands ready to ensure uninterrupted transit of gas to Europe even if Russia halts gas supplies to Ukraine, he said.

He added that last summer Kiev fully fulfilled its obligations for Russian gas transit to consumers in Europe despite the gas cutoff, which affected Ukraine.

In June 2014, Russia cut off all gas supplies to Ukraine as the two sides failed to reach an agreement on payments.

In October 2014, Kiev and Moscow signed a gas supply "winter package" worth $4.6 billion, under which Ukraine is receiving gas from Russia on a prepayment basis.

On February 24, Russia's Gazprom threatened to cut gas supplies to Ukraine as Kiev failed to prepay for deliveries.

The talks over a new gas dispute between the two ex-Soviet countries are scheduled to take place on March 2 in Brussels with participation of Ukrainian and Russian energy ministers.

IANS