Russia offers Ukraine gas price discount ahead of talks
Gas pipeline
(KIEV) - Moscow said Friday it had offered Kiev a gas price discount that should let the neighbours strike a deal at talks in Brussels on resuming fuel flows for the first time in three months.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's office said the cabinet chief has proposed a rate for Ukraine between October 1 and the end of the year that meets "the level of prices for gas destined for Ukraine's neighbouring European Union countries."
Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday that Moscow's offer included a cut of $20 per thousand cubic metres from the provisionally set price of $252.
But a government statement cited by Russian news agencies said the new contract would actually lower Ukraine's price to $227.4 -- slightly closer to the $220 figure requested by Ukraine this month.
The Ukrainian government called the reported Moscow proposal a "basis" for talks on a broader agreement that is signed not only by the two countries' state gas companies but also their governments and the European Commission.
The Russian and Ukranian energy ministers are due to meet for talks organised by the European Commission in Brussels later Friday.
The two former Soviet nations resumed their old energy spats when a pro-Western uprising ousted Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych and took control of Kiev last year.
Ukraine announced at the end of July that it was halting all Russian gas purchases because it found the price inconsistent with what state energy giant Gazprom charged other European clients.
The approaching winter and Ukraine's need to fill up its underground gas storage tanks has seen talks gather pace in recent weeks.
Moscow has warned that Kiev's failure to sign a deal might see Ukraine dip into Russian flows destined for the rest of Europe.
Ukraine transports around 15 percent of the gas consumed by EU nations -- a figure likely to fall with Russia's construction of new links bypassing its war-torn neighbour.