FX.co ★ Slovakia prepares for reverse gas supply to Ukraine

Slovakia has begun to prepare a pipeline for reverse deliveries of Russian gas to Ukraine. As ITAR-TASS reports, this statement was made by Miroslav Lajcak, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, on Monday May 19 after a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. According to the Slovak politician, such actions are normal and useful practice.
“Our task is to supply gas. This is a commercial operation. We want it comply with the norms of international law. Gas supplies themselves are not a question to us,” Lajcak said.
He also added that for Slovakia it is a matter of principal to not breach the current agreements with Russia.
At the same time, Sergey Lavrov said the Russian-Slovakian relationship is safe and the Russian party has no complaints against it.
Ukraine’s debt to Russia totals $3.5 billion today. Kiev refuses to pay it off as it disagrees with its amount. The Ukrainian authorities say they will settle all debts to Gazprom only under the agreements reached by toppled President Viktor Yanucovich and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Then, Ukraine had to pay $268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters versus $485 today.
Moscow considers these requirements baseless. On May 13, it took a decision to deliver gas to Ukraine only after an advanced payment. To receive energy in June, Naftogaz has to pay Gazprom $1.66 billion. Otherwise, Russia will stop supplies to Ukraine on June 3.
In attempt to reduce its dependence on the Russian fuel, Ukraine is talking with the EU to import natural gas from its members. On April 28, it agreed with Slovakia that the latter will supply 3.2 billion cubic meters from October. In 2015, they plan to raise the volume of deliveries to 10 billion cubic meters.