Putin defends Gazprom price hikes on Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended a planned price rises for Ukraine by state-owned Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Speaking to a press conference President Putin said:
They failed to pay off the debt, I think it's $1.5bn as of today, and if they don't pay for February it's going to be $2bn. So if you don't pay, then let's go back to regular prices.
This makes perfect commercial sense. This has nothing to do with situation in Ukraine. We gave them money, they failed to deliver.
The price increases are to be implemented at the start of April and are due to the country's inability to pay its debts, according to Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller.
Miller said that Ukraine had told the energy company on Monday that it would not be able to pay for gas supplies for February. However, Miller did offer the country a $2-3bn loan to pay off Ukraine's $1.5bn debt.
In December, Ukraine was given a discount on Russian gas supplies which it was agreed would be negotiated every three months. The discount cut the cost of gas from $400 per thousand cubic metres to $268 per thousand cubic metres.