BRUSSELS (AP) – Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement late Monday to ensure natural gas supplies to war-torn Ukraine for the month of March, averting possible cuts that could have hit supplies to the European Union.
The two countries have fought several gas price wars in past years and Moscow had been threatening to turn off the taps to Ukraine on Tuesday unless it received outstanding pre-payments, as agreed in a deal they clinched last October, the so-called winter package.
“I am satisfied that we managed to safeguard the full application of the winter package for the supply needs in Ukraine,” said EU energy chief Maros Sefcovic after mediating emergency talks between Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Demchyshyn.
Demchyshyn said that both parties had agreed “to obey the rules” until the end of March.
Under the deal sealed in Brussels, Ukraine’s Naftogaz will pre-pay and order sufficient quantities of gas to ensure all domestic consumption for March and guarantee undisrupted supplies to the EU. Gazprom commits to supply a set quantity of natural gas each day at agreed on delivery points.