Ukraine hopes Russian gas price won't change

Ukraine hopes that the price it pays for Russian natural gas will remain unchanged despite the ouster of pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s acting energy minister told Reuters on Monday, according to RIA Novosti. 

Russia’s state gas giant Gazprom agreed with Ukraine’s Naftogaz in December to slash the price that Ukraine had paid since 2009 by about a third, from about $400 per 1,000 cubic meters to $268.50.

“We hope the price will be stable,” the news agency quoted acting Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky as saying.

More than half of the 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas consumed by Ukraine each year comes from Russia, according to Reuters.

Stavytsky said in January that Ukraine would discontinue relatively small purchases of natural gas from Europe and instead only buy from Russia.

Ukraine is on the brink of economic collapse following Yanukovych’s ouster on Saturday and the prospect that Russia will renege on billions of dollars in promised loans to the cash-strapped country.

Ukraine’s interim finance minister said Monday that the country is seeking at least $35 billion in urgent aid from Western powers, including the EU and the United States.