KIEV, November 3 (RIA Novosti) – Kiev has agreed with International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it will pay for Russian gas during the winter period from Ukraine's exchange reserves, the country's national bank said.
"We managed to agree with IMF that the payments for the gas can be made from our own exchange reserves and IMF will support us. That is why we are confident we can support all the payments to Gazprom on the recent gas agreement," the Head of Ukraine's National Bank Valeriia Gontareva said at the press briefing.
Earlier on Monday, Ukraine's Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan told RIA Novosti that Kiev has not yet paid for Russian gas, but aims to do so in the near future.
Russian energy giant Gazprom switched Ukraine to a prepayment system for gas supplies in June over its major gas debt. Following the move, Naftogaz turned to the Stockholm arbitration court requesting to review its contract with Gazprom and hoping to recover $6 billion in alleged overpayments. Meanwhile, Gazprom filed a lawsuit against Naftogaz with the same court in order to recover $4.5 billion in debt.
Last Thursday, after months of negotiations, the final round of gas talks between Russia and Ukraine, brokered by the European Union, finished with the signing of a so-called "winter package" agreement securing gas supplies to Ukraine until March. The agreement stipulates that Russia resumes gas supplies to Ukraine and gives Kiev a $100 discount on the price it pays per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, while Kiev agrees to pay $3.1 billion to cover part of its debt to Gazprom by the end of 2014.
