Ukraine/Russia

Kiev pays off gas debt

Article published on the 2009-03-05 Latest update 2009-03-05 17:08 TU

Armed security forces raid Naftogaz headquarters in Kiev
(Photo: Reuters)

The Ukrainian state-run gas company, Naftogaz, announced Thursday that it has paid off all of its February gas debt to Russia, after receiving a warning directly from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that they would be cut off if they did not pay their bill. Naftogaz handed over the final 50 million dollars after paying 310 million dollars earlier this week to Russian company Gazprom.

Natural gas deliveries from Russia had been stopped for two weeks in January because of the unpaid bill, leaving customers without heating fuel in the dead of winter.

Gazprom confirmed the bill had been paid Thursday.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko had worked out a deal with Putin. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko criticized the prime minister's deal.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian security agents in masks, armed with machine guns, burst into Naftogaz's headquarters in Kiev, which Yushchenko said was part of a criminal investigation into the firm.

Tymoshenko protested the move, calling it a raid made by "corrupt groups" carrying out "evil orders", according to a statement from her office.

Tymoshenko and Yushchenko, who have been involved in an ongoing feud, have been trying to work together recently to obtain frozen funding from a $16.4 billion International Monetary Fund economic rescue programme for the country.