The questions of money, relations, and power are timeless. Political standoffs are unfolding according to their scenarios in which energy levers are one of the bargain chips of the Russian government. Recently, a series of official meetings was held. Thus, Gazprom Ceo Alexei Miller met Andrei Kobolev, the Ukrainian Naftogaz CEO, and Dmitri Medvedev, the Russian Prime Minister. The three discussed the Ukrainian debt to Russia for the gas delivery and the discounts envisioned earlier by the Kharkiv Accord. Alexei Miller said the discount will no longer be applied after denunciation of the Black Sea hosting deal. Now Ukraine has to pay $485 per 1,000 cubic meters. Besides, the Russian Prime Minister claimed Russia may seek for reimbursement from Kiev for gas price discounts from prior years as Russia has paid in advance until 2017. The reimbursement totals whopping $11 billion and there is every reason to ask for the money back. Dmitri Medvedev explained that Ukraine enjoyed the lower price for the Russian gas under the Kharkiv Accord due to the export duty which was cut to zero. Now, when the agreement is canceled, the final price for Russian gas rose another $100. The international community is bracing for another energy war. Back in 2009, Russia suspended gas transit through Ukraine which caused severe disruption in European gas markets. Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuri Prodan confirmed he is ready to look back for agreement on gas delivery and may consider another loan from Russia.
"The Ukrainian economy should not pay such a price for gas. It is a political price," Prodan told reporters in Kiev.