Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a plan to extend Moscow’s current natural gas deal with Ukraine for another three months.
Russian authorities announced the extension Tuesday, just hours before a temporary pricing agreement reached in October 2014 was set to expire.
The deal required Ukraine to make monthly payments in advance of delivery, with Kyiv paying $365 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of 2015. Russian energy officials recently said Ukraine would pay $348 beginning April 1.
In a separate development, a top Russian economist said Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula would cost up to $200 billion in …read more
Source: Voice of America
