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Russia cut of their gas because they were into them for Billions and couldn't pay .I
Ukraine was ready to accept the EU proposal of a price range between $300 and $385 per 1,000 cubic meters, still above the $286.5 that the country paid in the first quarter, NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy, the state gas company, said today. Gazprom’s final offer was $385, Miller said today.
Ukraine was ready to accept the EU proposal of a price range between $300 and $385 per 1,000 cubic meters, still above the $286.5 that the country paid in the first quarter
Now I would have though that if the EU was going to pay the bill and then rebill the Ukraine then things could have happened . See Russia would be selling the gas to the EU directly and the EU would bill the Ukraine .Russia would have got the debt collected and continued pumping gas but the Ukraine wanted the sweet deal they had under the previous Govt that was going to stay out of the EU . I think it really had more to do with Ukraine becoming a member of NATO and that Russia would not allow that red line to be crossed .
Under the EU’s last plan, Ukraine would pay its debt in installments, with $1 billion paid immediately and the rest by the year-end, according to Oettinger.
Ukraine must pay $1.95 billion to partially settle its debt by the deadline, Gazprom said yesterday. The company previously extended the payment deadline for Ukraine after receiving $786 million for supplies delivered in February and March.
Ukraine refused to pay the rest of its debt demanding market-based prices, which it says would be lower than Gazprom proposed.
In April, after Ukraine’s Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in street protests, Gazprom rescinded a gas discount it had previously granted Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin also stripped the Ukraine of a 2010 export-duty reduction that it exchanged for a lease on its Black Sea fleet’s port in Crimea, which Russia annexed in March.
To further insulate its economy, Russia should abandon the use of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency, according to Glazyev. Russia, which international reserves are the world’s fifth-biggest, needs to diversify its holdings to include China’s yuan, India’s rupee and Brazil’s real.
“If a country aspires to reserve status for its currency, it should behave properly, and that isn’t the case today,” Glazyev said.
originally posted by: Bassago
a reply to: BornAgainAlien
Yeah, read that earlier and I believe he's correct on the damages coming to the EU. The last part of the article also indicates Russia's (and probably most BRIC's countries and allies) plans to make the US back off.
To further insulate its economy, Russia should abandon the use of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency, according to Glazyev. Russia, which international reserves are the world’s fifth-biggest, needs to diversify its holdings to include China’s yuan, India’s rupee and Brazil’s real.
“If a country aspires to reserve status for its currency, it should behave properly, and that isn’t the case today,” Glazyev said.
I have to agree with that last sentence.
See i have a problem with that. Regardless of it's perceived importance the EU simply does not get to suggest prices of commodities to countries outside the EU. At least not to countries they can't dominate.
Ukraine was receiving Russian gas at heavily subsidized rates. When they decided to try and join up with the EU and probably NATO it's is no surprise to me Russia would begin to play hardball.
On December 16 in Brussels, EU foreign ministers reassured Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that closer EU-Ukraine ties posed no threat to Russia.
Ultimately this whole thing reeks of EU interference and IMF greed.. IMO.
The EU is trying to make it a good deal all the way around to where no one loses, also know it was also a deal to get Russia the money they are owed.
But that was the way Russia kept Ukraine from joining the EU.
On December 16 in Brussels, EU foreign ministers reassured Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that closer EU-Ukraine ties posed no threat to Russia.
And yet Putin still thinks everyone is out to harm Russia, which is a strange mindset he has.
The point of a series of regional wars organized by the Americans, especially today’s catastrophe in Ukraine, centers on the U.S. securing control over all of north Eurasia” to bolster “its position against China,” Glazyev said. “That’s how the U.S. military and oligarchs are trying to maintain leadership in the global competition with China.”
And it doesn't smell of alot of Russian interference by using an ultimatum that wasn't necessary?
The EU would oppose such a step by the Ukrainian government, which is drawing up legislation to allow sanctions against Russia because of its encroachment in eastern Ukraine, the EU official tells reporters in Brussels on the condition of anonymity
"The secure supply of energy through Ukraine must be maintained,’’ the official says.
To be sure, Ukraine quickly got the message, and as Energy Minister Yuri Prodan told Bloomberg, the Ukraine sanctions will target Russian companies, not specific resources, with the list of companies to be approved by National Security & Defense Council, Prodan says, declining to name any entities. Gazprom will not be on said list.
Ukraine Quickly Backs Off Threat Of Halting Russian Gas Transit
The Ukrainian parliament approved a law on Thursday to impose sanctions on Russian companies and individuals "for financing terrorism." As Reuters reports, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk told parliament that "by approving the law on sanctions, we showed that the country is able to protect itself.
Ukraine Passes Russian Sanctions Law: Gas Transit Halt Seems Imminent