MOSCOW (AP) — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged the European Union on Monday to lend Ukraine at least $1 billion to help it pay for natural gas supplies from Russia and avoid another disruption of flows to Europe.
Europe gets 20 percent of its gas from Russia via pipelines that cross Ukraine and has an interest in helping prevent a repeat of the January gas crisis. When Russia cut off gas shipments via Ukraine for nearly two weeks as a price and payment dispute between the two neighbors escalated, more than 15 European countries were sent scrambling to find alternative sources of energy.
Putin said Russia had done its part by paying transit fees of $2.5 billion in advance.
"Let the Europeans throw in a lousy billion," he said in televised remarks after talks with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.
"Why have they gotten so stingy down there? Let them get something out of their pockets," he said, in typically colorful language. "They have money, too."
Putin has been warning in recent days that Ukraine may not be able to meet its commitments to Russia's state-controlled gas company, Gazprom, suggesting that this could lead to another cutoff.
Ukraine's state-owned natural gas company, Naftogaz, has been paying its monthly gas bills on time. The next bill comes due Saturday.
On Sunday, Putin called Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, to express his concerns.
"Prime Minister Reinfeldt stated that both the Swedish and the Czech presidency had followed this issue closely and that we will continue to do so," the Swedish government said in a statement.
The European Commission had reached agreement with Ukraine in June for international lenders — the World Bank, European Investment Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development — to provide up to $1.7 billion in loans to help it pay its gas bill and reform its energy sector.
Putin said that Ukraine, whose economy has been devastated by the financial crisis, has not received any of the money.
Putin first raised the alarm Friday, when he said Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko had warned him that Ukraine's president, Viktor Yushchenko, was making it difficult to pay the gas bill.
Tymoshenko and Yushchenko are running against each other in a January presidential election. Their bitter rivalry, and Moscow's interest in seeing a more Russia-friendly president in Ukraine, was seen as a major factor behind the renewed tensions over gas supplies.
Energy industry analysts have said Russia would be unlikely to cut off supplies to Europe again this winter because it already is struggling to get European customers to buy as much gas as their contracts specify. The economic downturn has reduced demand and European gas stocks are high.
To add a comment, please register or login.