Russia Yet to Decide on Potential Halt in Gas Supply to Ukraine

Russia hasn’t decided yet whether to halt gas sales to Ukraine, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday.

Russia expects to receive payments for natural gas from Kiev soon, Novak said as quoted by Russian media outlets.

Russia’s Gazprom warned on Tuesday that it may suspend deliveries within two days due to Ukraine’s failure to make advance payments for the supplies. Ukraine’s Naftogaz rejected Gazprom’s claims, saying the Russian gas giant had supplied less than half of two prepaid daily shipments, due for delivery on Sunday and Monday.

Novak tried to dispel fears Gazprom’s customers in Europe may suffer in case of a cut in Russian gas supplies to Ukraine.

"We are counting on a new prepayment for Russian gas being made on time ... There should be no break in gas supplies to European customers," Reuters quoted Novak as saying in a statement.

Gazprom also warned on Tuesday that Europe was running a serious risk of losing access to the flow of gas via Ukraine as a result of a possible halt in supplies to Ukraine.

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