Posted on 04/03/2014 11:43:05 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
Russia is tightening its economic screws on Ukraine, ordering Thursday a further increase in the price of gas it sells to the country and asking that past bills — which are growing by the day — be paid.
Ukraine, whose economy is on the brink of collapse as it awaits international aid, relies on Russia for almost all its energy. Russia had been giving it discounts on gas as long as the government was willing to have close ties with Moscow. Now that the new government has signed a partnership with the European Union instead, those favors are being pulled back.
Alexei Miller, the CEO of Russia's state-owned gas company Gazprom, on Thursday said the discounts, a part of which were withdrawn earlier this month, would be scrapped altogether. In practice that means a 70 percent hike in prices that will add to Ukraine's $2.2 billion in gas arrears.
"Our Ukrainian counterparts should find the necessary funding to repay the debts and pay the bills because otherwise our cooperation in this sphere, as well as in other spheres, would not be possible," Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. He stopped short of saying whether Russia is prepared to turn off the gas taps to Ukraine, like it did in 2009.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Greedy Capitalist pigs.
When you have the winning hand of cards, you don’t have to bluff.
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