Ukraine cannot pay Gazprom in advance

Ukraine refuses to pay in advance for the Russian gas after the state-owned gas supplier, Gazprom, raised the prices from $268.50 to $485.50 per thousand cubic meters of gas.

‘We cannot pay in advance at the price [of] about $480 per thousand cubic meters,’ said the Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan.

The bill was charged at the new high price after Russia claimed that Ukraine failed to pay for its April gas supplies.

Furthermore, as Ukraine did not meet the deadline to pay the $3.5 billion debts, all gas it receives from Russia, starting with June, will have to be paid in advance.