The chief of Russian gas giant Gazprom says Ukraine's discount "winter price" for natural gas will end on April 1.
Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller said in a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on January 20 that the gas price on April 1 for Kyiv would be set in accordance with a longstanding contract.
He did not specify a price, but Gazprom previously charged Ukraine $485 per 1,000 cubic meters under a 2009 contract that Kyiv long sought to change.
Russia lowered the price from that level late in 2013 as part of a reward to Kyiv for scrapping a landmark pact with the EU, then raised again after he outster of Viktor Yanukovych as president last February.
On October 30, Russia and Ukraine agreeed to a an EU-brokered deal under which Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Kyiv would pay Gazprom $378 per 1,000 cubic meters until the end of 2014 and $365 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of 2015.
Miller also said that Ukraine's debt to Russia for previous gas shipments is $2.44 billion.
