Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom, which had sharply limited supplies through Ukraine on Tuesday, has stopped all gas shipments through the country as of 7:44 a.m. (0544 GMT), said Valentyn Zemlyansky, spokesman for Ukraine's Naftogaz.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Russia-stops-all-gas-supply-apf-13987646.html
1)
Russia stopped all gas shipments to Ukraine on Jan. 1 after both countries failed to agree on prices and transit fees for next year.
Over the past week, Russia accused Ukraine of siphoning off tens of millions of cubic meters of gas meant for Europe from its transit pipelines.
Ukraine admitted diverting some transit gas, saying it had the right to use the fuel to run its pumping system. Gazprom then started dramatically reducing supplies to European consumers this week.
The crisis erupted after Russia and Ukraine failed to agree on a gas price for 2009 and on payment of $600 million Gazprom says it is due from Naftogaz.
2) In 2008, Russia charged Ukraine about half what it charged its European customers for gas. The subsidy is a legacy of the Soviet era, when both countries were part of the U.S.S.R.
Gazprom has long sought to charge Ukraine European-level prices. Ukraine says that if it pays more for gas, Russia should pay more for shipping gas through Ukraine
3) Russia has expressed frustration with the absence of negotiations, and said it is ready to resume talks anytime.
Ukraine may be in the stronger negotiating position.
The country had about 16 billion cubic meters of gas in its vast underground storage system Tuesday.
With Ukraine consumers using about 200 million cubic meters a day, and Ukraine producing some of its own gas, the country should not see shortages until early April, the government says.
Gazprom meanwhile is losing substantial income during a peak season for gas consumption. On a typical winter day, experts say, Gazprom would be pumping about 350 million cubic meters of gas to Europe. It also will soon see an excess of gas in its system that it will have to deal with.