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RUSSIA CUTS GAS PRICES FOR UKRAINE, GRANTS MULTIBILLION LOAN
December 17, 2013 - 22:01 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia on Tuesday, Dec 17, sharply lowered natural
gas prices for Ukraine and provided its neighbor with a multibillion
loan package in a move that Ukraine's government may hope will spell
an end to ongoing street protests, RIA Novosti reports.
President Vladimir Putin announced at a meeting with his Ukrainian
counterpart in Moscow that Russia will sell gas to Ukraine's Naftogaz
energy company for $268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters, well below the
current level of more than $400. Putin said, however, the price may
only be lowered temporarily.
"We believe this is a temporary decision, by which it is mean that
long-term agreements should and will be signed. This concerns both
supplies to Ukraine and securing uninterrupted transit to our consumers
in Europe," Putin said after the meeting.
Russia will also dip into its national wealth fund to buy $15 billion
in Ukrainian eurobonds, Putin said. That will provide desperately
needed liquidity for Ukraine, which is currently facing a looming
balance of payments crisis.
"These will be eurobonds, part of them this year, another next year.
The smallest part, naturally, this year," Russia's Finance Minister
Anton Siluanov said.
Opposition forces in Ukraine reacted to the news from Moscow with
caution and skepticism.
"We need to understand what the Ukrainian president gave Moscow in
return for this. I do not believe in altruism from Russia or any
other country," Sergei Sobolev, deputy head of the leading opposition
Batkyvshchina (Fatherland) party, told RIA Novosti.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/174066/
December 17, 2013 - 22:01 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia on Tuesday, Dec 17, sharply lowered natural
gas prices for Ukraine and provided its neighbor with a multibillion
loan package in a move that Ukraine's government may hope will spell
an end to ongoing street protests, RIA Novosti reports.
President Vladimir Putin announced at a meeting with his Ukrainian
counterpart in Moscow that Russia will sell gas to Ukraine's Naftogaz
energy company for $268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters, well below the
current level of more than $400. Putin said, however, the price may
only be lowered temporarily.
"We believe this is a temporary decision, by which it is mean that
long-term agreements should and will be signed. This concerns both
supplies to Ukraine and securing uninterrupted transit to our consumers
in Europe," Putin said after the meeting.
Russia will also dip into its national wealth fund to buy $15 billion
in Ukrainian eurobonds, Putin said. That will provide desperately
needed liquidity for Ukraine, which is currently facing a looming
balance of payments crisis.
"These will be eurobonds, part of them this year, another next year.
The smallest part, naturally, this year," Russia's Finance Minister
Anton Siluanov said.
Opposition forces in Ukraine reacted to the news from Moscow with
caution and skepticism.
"We need to understand what the Ukrainian president gave Moscow in
return for this. I do not believe in altruism from Russia or any
other country," Sergei Sobolev, deputy head of the leading opposition
Batkyvshchina (Fatherland) party, told RIA Novosti.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/174066/