Ukraine’s cash-strapped government may have secured short-term relief for its ailing economy by landing a 30 per cent discount on Russian natural gas imports prices late last month through a broader $20bn bailout agreement.
But recognising that Russia’s leadership could hike prices up again in the future, the administration of President Viktor Yanukovich does not appear to be dropping long-term plans to diversify gas supplies, crucial in breaking the energy inefficient economy’s longstanding heavy dependence on Russian fuel.
A week after revealing that Ukraine had halted imports of gas from EU markets, Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky on Wednesday said that his government had nonetheless signed an agreement that could – with Slovakia’s approval – allow for larger volumes of European spot market gas to be imported in the future.
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