Ukraine threatens Russia over gas price hike
Saturday, 5 April 2014
Ukraine on Saturday rejected Russia's latest gas price hike and threatened to take its energy-rich neighbour to arbitration court over a dispute that could imperil deliveries to western Europe. Prime Minister Asreniy Yatsenyuk said Russia's two rate increases in three days were a form of "economic aggression" aimed at punishing Ukraine's new leaders for overthrowing a Moscow-backed regime last month. Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom this week raised the price of Ukrainian gas by 81 percent -- to $485.50 from $268.50 for 1,000 cubic metres -- and now requires the ex-Soviet nation to pay the highest rate of any of its European clients, according to AFP.