UPDATE 2-Gazprom to halt gas to Ukraine if no payment by Monday

Source: Reuters

MOSCOW, June 12 (Reuters) - Russian natural gas exporter Gazprom will halt supplies to Ukraine if it fails to pay off part of its gas debts by Monday, chief executive Alexei Miller said on Thursday, raising fears of disruptions in gas flows to Europe.

Miller said that if Ukraine failed to pay $1.95 billion to Gazprom it would start requiring Kiev to pay in advance for further shipments, and that if it did not receive any money at all, it would cut off supplies.

A dispute over gas prices is central to Russia's crisis in relations with Ukraine, which has led to the worst standoff with the West since the end of the Cold War.

No agreement has been reached in several rounds of talks brokered by the European Commission. As the latest talks hit an impasse, Gazprom set June 16 as the deadline for Ukraine to pay off part of its debt.

"If Ukraine pays for no (gas) volumes at all, it means that ... gas shipments to Ukraine will be zero," Miller said in televised comments.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/06/12/ukraine-crisis-gazprom-idUKL5N0OT43A20140612

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MOSCOW. June 12 (Interfax) - Gas supplies from Poland and Hungary to Ukraine contradict agreement with Russia's Gazprom (MOEX: GAZP), Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said.

"Reverse supplies are a half-fraud mechanism. The so-called circle reverse, when gas goes in circle at the border between Ukraine and Poland and between Ukraine and Hungary - it shows everyone that physical volumes of European gas are supplied to Ukraine but in reality this is Russian gas," Miller said.

"At that, it is necessary to understand that real consumers in Ukraine get gas, which does not even make it to the Ukrainian border with these states. Ukraine does with our gas what it pleases at its territory, though gas does not change the owner in the Ukrainian pipe," he said.

"We have transfer stations of our Russian gas in Europe, so such schemes are half-fraud and in reality restrictions on supplies might be introduced over such schemes and such regimes. And this has been stated by our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. This contradicts contracts we have signed with Ukraine," Miller said.

http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=512989