MOSCOW, April 21 (RIA Novosti) – Russia welcomes the European Commission’s readiness for dialogue on energy supplies amid the ongoing failure of Ukraine to pay its natural gas debts, a Kremlin spokesman said Monday.
“We have noted the positive tune of the EC about dialogue,” Dmitry Peskov told the Rossiya One TV channel, referring to a letter sent recently by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Still, Peskov added, Moscow did not quite understand if Barroso represented non-EU countries, which are buyers of Russian natural gas, including Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Turkey.
“This still needs to be clarified,” he said.
Last week, Putin sent a letter to the leaders of several European countries warning that Moscow would have to switch to requiring advance payments from Kiev for gas deliveries, due to Ukraine’s mounting debt for unpaid supplies. In his letter, Putin noted that Russia has subsidized the Ukrainian economy by $35.4 billon by selling gas at discounted prices.
Peskov stressed that Russia has never threatened to cut gas supplies to Ukraine and dismissed claims by European countries that the Russian position has been “unfair.”
“We don’t think so. This is an absolutely fair [position],” he said.
Last Thursday, Putin said that Moscow will wait for one more month before switching to requiring the advance payments.
