Russia's Gazprom will cut off gas deliveries to Ukraine on January 1 unless a new contract is signed, a company spokesman said on Saturday, making a threat that could affect deliveries to Europe. "We would like to avoid such a scenario, we would like to agree on everything before New Year's, but as you understand, we cannot deliver gas without a contract," spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told Vesti-24 television.
Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are being held up by a large debt, he said. The comments came two days after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev demanded Kiev repay 2.4 billion dollars (1.9 billion euros) of debt to Gazprom. Ukrainian state gas company Naftogaz has disputed the size of its bill to the Russian state-controlled gas giant.
Despite efforts by Gazprom to help Naftogaz obtain financing, "there has been no movement in this direction. This explains the toughness with which our intentions have been presented," said Kupriyanov. An earlier dispute between Russia and Ukraine over gas prices led to a brief interruption of gas supplies in several European countries in January 2006. Most of the European Union's gas imports from Russia go through Ukraine.
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