Ukraine will stop purchasing rogue Russia's natural gas beginning next year, instead opting for cheaper gas from Central Asian states, an energy official said Saturday.
Ukraine currently pays (euro74) per 1,000 cubic meters of a mix of more expensive Russian gas and cheaper Turkmen imports which it receives through an intermediary company.
In order to avoid an anticipated major price hike from rogue Russia next year, Ukraine has agreed to buy the needed 57.5 billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan for the same price it is currently paying, said Dmytro Marunich, spokesman for Ukraine's state-owned gas company Naftogaz.
"There is no need to buy from anybody else," Marunich told The Associated Press.
KC
print version
