Russia announces suspension of natural gas supply to Ukraine

Russia and Ukraine had been engaged in negotiations trying to come to common terms over the disputed prices for natural gas. The negotiations collapsed without any positive outcome the result of which has been a statement issued by Russia that it will suspend the delivery of natural gas to Ukraine.

Russia is the supplier of up to one fourth of the natural gas that is used across Europe. This gas is delivered to the rest of Europe through Ukraine’s gas pipelines. The suspension of gas to Ukraine is going to have its repercussions on the rest of Europe as well.
 
A similar suspension did take place two years back when Russia blocked some of its gas supply to Ukraine. Countries as far as Italy suffered from fuel shortages as a result. The incident brought to light Europe’s utter dependence on energy controlled by Russia.

Russia wanted to increase the rate at which it was supplying gas to Ukraine in the upcoming year. It indented on collecting over $2 billion in debt from Ukraine. This has been the major cause of the current dispute. The diplomatic relations between the two nations have been strained in the past few years as the Russian government is not very fond of the pro-Western government of Ukraine.

The announcement of the collapse of the talks that were being conducted between the two sides was made by the chief executive of Russia’s state controlled gas company Gazprom. He said “All responsibility for the situation rests on the Ukrainian side.” 

The state run gas monopoly had issued its warning to Ukraine more than two weeks ago. It had asked the country to pay off its debts and sign a new deal for the upcoming year by Wednesday. Ukraine failed to meet these demands following which Russia made the announcement of suspending the supply of natural gas.

The global economic crisis has struck both these countries hard and both are longing for funds. This could mean that the current suspension could last a lot longer than the three day suspension that took place back in 2006. Ukraine is currently on the verge of an economic meltdown whereas Russia itself has been damaged due to the falling energy prices. It is for Ukraine now to make a call or suffer the consequences the implications of which would be felt all across Europe.