Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev approved a discount in the price of natural gas for Ukraine to bring Russian gas prices closer to prices in European markets.
Russia will discount its previous gas price of $230 per 1,000 cubic meters (TCM) by $17.8, bringing it to $212.2 per TCM, an official Russian government notice said January 1.
Ukraine's Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn previously said Ukraine was ready to buy Russian gas in the first quarter of 2016 if the price was reduced to under $200 per TCM.
Currently, gas is trading at a price of around $170 per TCM in European markets.
"Russians understand that in order to be competitive they need to decrease the price," Medvedev said, noting that the discount was intended to reflect "market conditions."
Whether the discount will be enough to attract Ukraine remains to be seen. Ukraine halted gas purchases from Gazprom in July 2015 after Kyiv and Moscow failed to reach a deal on gas deliveries for the third quarter of the year.
