Payments for gas deliveries in February and March were made by the Ukrainian government, averting a disruption, the Russian Energy Ministry said Monday. The Ukrainian government announced the payment Friday and a spokesman for the Russian Energy Ministry confirmed its receipt in a statement to state news agency RIA Novosti. “The Russian energy ministry confirms it had received $786 million in two payments, intended [to cover deliveries] in February and March,” he said . The debt payment follows a round of trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the European Union. EU member states rely on Russia for about a quarter of their gas needs and similar disputes in 2006 and 2009 left European consumers without gas as much of those supplies run through a Soviet-era pipeline network in Ukraine. Alexei Miller , chief executive of Russian energy company Gazprom, said his company would postpone the start […]