Category: Ukraine

Four days before a watershed presidential election in Ukraine, a new round of deadly fighting flared in the east of the country on Thursday. At least 13 government soldiers were reported killed in an abrupt escalation of violence as pro-Russian separatists struck back against government efforts to subdue them. The clashes could represent a risk for the interim authorities in Kiev, the capital, who have claimed to be getting the upper hand against the rebels, encouraged by rifts among separatist groups occupying public buildings in numerous cities in the southeast. In a posting on Facebook, Ukraine’s acting prime minister, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, accused Russia of escalating the conflict in eastern Ukraine and of trying to disrupt Sunday’s election. He called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council and said he would provide “evidence” to support his claim. News reports quoted acting President Oleksandr […]

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The European Union expects Russia to keep gas flowing through Ukraine so long as diplomatic channels are open, the European Commission president said Wednesday. European Commission José Manuel Barroso sent a letter Wednesday to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In it, he said it was important that all parties to a row over gas supplies through Ukraine remain engaged. "As long as the trilateral talks are on-going, gas flows should not be interrupted," the letter stated. "It therefore continues to be Gazprom’s responsibility to ensure the deliveries of the required volumes as agreed in the supply contracts with European companies." Gazprom in April sent its Ukrainian counterpart Naftogaz a bill for more than $11 billion for taking on less gas than contracted in 2013. Moscow has called on Kiev to pay in advance for natural gas in order to avoid a similar row in 2009 that […]

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Ukraine rejects Russia demand to prepay for June natural gas imports, Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said, blaming Russia for the failure of the gas talks. In his letter to the European Commission and the leaders of the European Countries, which was published on the government website Tuesday, Mr. Yatsenyuk said Ukraine hasn’t declined to pay off its debt for Russian gas, but would only be willing to do so if Russian gas monopoly OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) retains the old price. The prime minister said the three-party talks between Russia, Ukraine and the European Union were unsuccessful because of Moscow’s unwillingness to compromise. "As there is no readiness from the Russian side for the dispute resolution, the pre-payment issue can’t be part of our talks," Mr. Yatsenyuk said. Kiev and Moscow have been locked in an increasingly bitter gas feud since the ouster of Ukraine’s President […]

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Russia’s military units in the regions near Ukraine on Wednesday began moving to railway stations and airfields en route to their home bases, the defense ministry said. Military units in the Belgorod, Bryansk and Rostov regions started marching back and are expected to arrive at their home bases before June 1, the defense ministry said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies. Yet NATO, which estimates that Russia has 40,000 troops along the border with Ukraine, repeated Wednesday it could not yet see any signs of a Russian pullout. President Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawal Monday in what could be an attempt to ease tensions with the West over Ukraine and avoid further sanctions. Russian television on Wednesday broadcast footage of columns of tanks and howitzers towed by heavy trucks. It wasn’t immediately clear where the footage was taken. The ministry said its units will […]

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The U.S. said there was as yet no evidence that Russian forces in regions bordering Ukraine have started a withdrawal announced by President two days ago. “We have not seen any withdrawal activity as of 2:45 this afternoon, and we’re watching as best we can constantly,” Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters at a briefing yesterday. “We’ve seen them say this before, we’re going to withdraw, we’re going to move.” Kirby’s comments echo assessments by the Ukrainian government and NATO. Russian state television said yesterday soldiers in three regions had started to return to their bases following Putin’s order. After annexing Crimea in March, Russia has been accused by the government in Kiev and its U.S. and EU allies of fomenting unrest in the mostly Russian-speaking east of Ukraine. Even so, Putin’s welcoming of a dialogue between the Kiev authorities and the regions and the announcement of […]

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Ukrainian presidential candidate Oleh Liahsko said shale gas could help bring a layer of political and economic independence to a new Ukrainian government. Liahsko, founder of the minority Radical Party, said the Ukrainian government needs to break the Russian grip on the energy sector for the sake of independence. Shale gas, he said Sunday, offers a good possibility for Ukraine. "We depended on Russia [for] over 23 years [since] independence — on gas," he said . "And this dependence is not only economic, but political." European consumers get about a quarter of their gas needs met by Russia, though most of that supply runs through the Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine. The Kremlin has used energy as a geopolitical tool in its disputes with Ukraine, which has moved closer to Europe since a November uprising. The Ukrainian government last year said there may be […]

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Ukrainian presidential candidate Oleh Liahsko said shale gas could help bring a layer of political and economic independence to a new Ukrainian government. Liahsko, founder of the minority Radical Party, said the Ukrainian government needs to break the Russian grip on the energy sector for the sake of independence. Shale gas, he said Sunday, offers a good possibility for Ukraine. "We depended on Russia [for] over 23 years [since] independence — on gas," he said . "And this dependence is not only economic, but political." European consumers get about a quarter of their gas needs met by Russia, though most of that supply runs through the Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine. The Kremlin has used energy as a geopolitical tool in its disputes with Ukraine, which has moved closer to Europe since a November uprising. The Ukrainian government last year said there may be […]

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On a Sunday in December when the Ukrainian uprising seemed about to tip into wide-scale violence, Petro Poroshenko, a pro-Western billionaire, thrust himself between antigovernment protesters and riot police officers clashing outside the presidential headquarters, climbed on a bulldozer that was threatening to plow through the crowd and grabbed an orange plastic megaphone. “Friends, calm down,” he shouted, as pro-government thugs brought in to antagonize the demonstrators cursed him and hurled anti-Semitic slurs, though he is a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox faith, not Jewish. As chaos swirled, Mr. Poroshenko, 48, stood his ground, helping keep injuries to a minimum, but also cementing his status as a leader of the pro-European opposition and defying the stereotype of the superrich above it all. Now, with less than a week to go until a presidential election here, Mr. Poroshenko is once again at the center of a fracas […]

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President ordered Russian troops near the Ukrainian border back to base, the state-run RIA news service reported, signaling a possible easing of tensions six days before Ukraine’s presidential election. Putin ordered forces in the Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk regions to return to their bases after completing exercises, RIA said today, citing the presidential press service. Putin, who discussed the situation in Ukraine with his Security Council today, welcomed contacts last week between the government in Kiev and supporters of greater powers for the country’s regions, including the Russian-speaking east, RIA reported. The comments come as Ukrainian forces continued skirmishes with insurgents in the east after pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions said they planned their own elections later this year. Putin, whom the Ukrainian government accuses of fomenting unrest in the east and who annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March, promised a withdrawal of Russian forces from […]

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On the day the U.S. barred its citizens from conducting business with Russia’s Igor Sechin, BP PLC’s American chief executive was in an uncomfortable spot: sitting at a boardroom table in St. Petersburg, Russia, with the oil executive. BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley is a director of OAO Rosneft , the state-controlled Russian oil company where Mr. Sechin is president and a major shareholder. The British company owns 19.75% of Rosneft. To ensure access to Russia’s vast reserves—and avoid political tangles that can ensnare companies in the country that don’t have Kremlin connections—big Western oil companies including BP, SA and Exxon Mobil Corp. have allied themselves with loyalists of Russian President Vladimir Putin . Mr. Sechin, a former government official, is one of Mr. Putin’s closest allies. Now, those connections are becoming liabilities as Western nations push Russia to by sanctioning some of those same individuals. That means the […]

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Thousands of steelworkers fanned out on Thursday through the city of Mariupol, establishing control over the streets and banishing the pro-Kremlin militants who until recently had seemed to be consolidating their grip on power, dealing a setback to Russia and possibly reversing the momentum in eastern Ukraine. By late Thursday, miners and steelworkers had deployed in at least five cities, including the regional capital, Donetsk. They had not, however, become the dominant force there that they were in Mariupol, the region’s second-largest city and the site last week of a bloody confrontation between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian militants. While it was still far too early to say the tide had turned in eastern Ukraine, the day’s events were a blow to separatists who recently seized control here and in a dozen or so other cities and who held a referendum on independence on Sunday. Backed by […]

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The top U.S. and U.K. diplomats vowed to punish Russia with industrywide sanctions if this month’s Ukrainian presidential election is undermined as the Kiev government’s forces moved to flush out separatists in the east. “If Russia or its proxies disrupt the elections,” the U.S. and its allies “will impose sectoral economic sanctions as a result,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in London yesterday after meeting his counterparts from Britain, Italy , France and Germany . Pro-Russian separatists “are literally sowing mayhem,” seeking to “speak for everyone through the barrel of a gun.” Discord over the election risks another round of escalation as the Kiev government and its U.S. and European allies blame Russia for the unrest in Ukraine’s easternmost regions. Russian calls to include rebels in national unity talks that began May 14 were rejected as the meetings opened without separatist leaders’ participation. In eastern Ukraine, government troops […]

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A two-day meeting designed to improve global energy security starts in Moscow today just as Russia threatens to halt natural gas shipments to Ukraine, risking disruption to European supplies. At least 18 ministers from countries including Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Turkey are attending the International Energy Forum’s conference, where Europe will also be represented. They meet days after an ultimatum to Ukraine raised questions about Russia’s reliability as a supplier. The U.K. delegation declined to attend the forum to protest Russia’s role in Ukraine, IEF Secretary-General Aldo Flores-Quiroga said today. “The IEF remains ready to facilitate producer-consumer dialogue regardless of circumstances,” he said. OAO Gazprom (OGZD) , Russia’s state-run gas exporter, threatened to halt June supplies without advance payment, as Kiev has fallen behind in payments for Russian shipments dating from last year. Ukraine is a key transit route for EU gas, with about 15 percent of the region’s […]

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Russia’s foreign minister said Ukraine is sliding into a civil war that could make it impossible to hold legitimate elections, as Ukrainian leaders and their international allies blamed Russia for the violence. “When Ukrainians kill Ukrainians, I believe it’s as close to civil war as you can get,” Sergei Lavrov told Bloomberg Television yesterday in an interview in Moscow. “In the east and south of Ukraine, there is a war, a real war, with heavy weaponry used, and if this is something that is conducive to free and fair elections, then I don’t understand something about freedom.” The Kiev government and its U.S. and European Union allies blame Russia for the unrest in Ukraine ’s easternmost regions. Pro-Russian separatists there were excluded from national unity talks that began yesterday in the capital to ease tensions as a May 25 presidential vote looms. U.S. and EU leaders say they’ll tighten […]

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Insurgents killed seven Ukrainian soldiers and wounded eight others in an ambush near an eastern rebel-held stronghold as the defense minister said the country was fighting an “undeclared war” with Russia . More than 30 attackers struck a convoy near the Donetsk region city of Kramatorsk at about 1 p.m., according to a statement by the Defense Ministry , which said that six paratroopers were killed. Another died later during transport to the hospital, according to Interfax. “Russia is already engaged” in Ukraine “in supporting Russian-led protesters and terrorists,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told reporters in Brussels today after talks with European Commission President Jose Barroso . “We urge Russia to condemn them, to urge all these so-called protesters — or really, terrorists — to leave and vacate the buildings, and to do everything they can to stabilize the situation in Ukraine. Russia will fail to make Ukraine […]

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European natural gas traders are betting Russia ’s economy can’t afford to lose more than $100 billion if the crisis in Ukraine escalates, reducing the odds of a long-lasting supply cut to the former Soviet nation. Gas futures in the U.K., Europe’s biggest market, declined 19 percent since Russia invaded Crimea in February and tumbled last week to the lowest since 2010. An escalation of the conflict with Ukraine could cost Russia $115 billion on average in 2015, or more than 3 percent of its gross domestic product, according to IHS Inc. Expanding sanctions from the U.S. and European Union threaten Russia’s economy, which the International Monetary Fund says is entering a recession. The world’s biggest energy exporter is struggling to raise investments to stimulate growth as ties with the U.S. and the EU deteriorate, sparking capital flight and a selloff of ruble assets. “The Russian economy is already […]

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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Ukraine needs a total of 18.5 billion cubic meters of gas in storage to avoid problems in winter, double what it has now, Gazprom (GAZP.MM) Deputy Chief Executive Vitaly Markelov said on Tuesday. Moscow and Kiev are on the cusp of another gas war after Kiev has refused to pay at higher levels demanded by Gazprom. The Russian company is now asking for prepayment for June and says it will only provide gas that is paid for. "According to our colleagues (in Ukraine), 9 bcm is in storage. To pass through autumn and winter periods normally, we estimate that (Ukraine) needs around 18.5 bcm (in total)," Markelov told a news conference. "So around 9 bcm more is needed." Ukraine wants to change the conditions of a 2009 contract that locked Kiev into buying a set volume, whether it needs it or not, at $485 per 1,000 […]

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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Ukraine needs a total of 18.5 billion cubic meters of gas in storage to avoid problems in winter, double what it has now, Gazprom (GAZP.MM) Deputy Chief Executive Vitaly Markelov said on Tuesday. Moscow and Kiev are on the cusp of another gas war after Kiev has refused to pay at higher levels demanded by Gazprom. The Russian company is now asking for prepayment for June and says it will only provide gas that is paid for. "According to our colleagues (in Ukraine), 9 bcm is in storage. To pass through autumn and winter periods normally, we estimate that (Ukraine) needs around 18.5 bcm (in total)," Markelov told a news conference. "So around 9 bcm more is needed." Ukraine wants to change the conditions of a 2009 contract that locked Kiev into buying a set volume, whether it needs it or not, at $485 per 1,000 […]

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Ukraine’s interim president, Oleksandr V. Turchynov, on Monday dismissed weekend referendums in the country’s restive, Russian-speaking eastern region as a farce with no legal basis, as the European Union prepared to announce a relatively modest tightening of sanctions against Moscow and its allies. The Kremlin said Russia “respects the will of the population” in two provinces in eastern Ukraine that participated on Sunday in chaotic ballots offering them a question about self-rule. But a statement from Moscow left open the possibility of dialogue and mediation to resolve the crisis. The ballots left the destiny of the east — Ukraine’s industrial heartland — unclear, as armed forces loyal to the interim government in Kiev and pro-Russian militants remained locked in a tense standoff that sometimes overflowed into gunfire. According to early results cited by The Associated Press, 89 percent of voters in the Donetsk region and 96 percent in neighboring […]

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Pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine who organised referendums on two regions’ links with Kiev claimed resounding victories on Monday, saying about 90 per cent of voters backed greater self-rule. Organisers of Sunday’s ballots , which were widely condemned by Kiev and the west as a “farce”, said 89 per cent of voters in Donetsk and up to 98 per cent in Luhansk backed greater autonomy. Turnout was about 75 per cent, the organisers said, but myriad irregularities were reported in many areas and there was no independent scrutiny of the process. Oleksandr Turchynov, acting president of Ukraine , told parliament on Monday that turnout was 24 per cent in Luhansk and 32 per cent in Donetsk. The separatists, who held the vote despite Russia calling for it to be postponed, have yet to decide how much self-determination they want. Voters backing greater self-rule in Donetsk said they wanted different […]

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Brent crude ticked higher Monday following the weekend’s contentious referendum in Ukraine, but gains were limited by indications of ample supply. The unofficial referendum in one Ukrainian province raised the prospect of deteriorating relations between Russia and the West, but Saudi Arabia said it would increase output should there be any disruption to supply from Russia. Brent June crude is up 0.5% at $108.41 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. June crude is up 0.3% at $100.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. "Further price strength in Brent crude oil may be limited given a big rebound in non-OPEC output, improved prospects for OPEC supplies and no acceleration in global oil demand growth," Bank of America Merrill Lynch wrote in a note to clients. The bank sees Brent prices averaging $106 a barrel in 2014. Recently, ICE Gasoil was up $2 at $903.75 a metric ton. Gasoline […]

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The Kremlin said Monday it respects the secession referendum in eastern Ukraine and hopes for a "civilized implementation" of the results through talks between Kiev and representatives in the east. , ratcheting up tensions between the West and Moscow. In its first comments since the referendum, the Kremlin appears to challenge the West and Kiev’s standpoint that it was illegitimate. The Kremlin statement said that Moscow welcomes all possible efforts to start negotiations between Kiev and separatist regions with the involvement of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. "Moscow views with respect the expression of the will of the people of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and expects that the practical implementation of the outcome of the referendums will be carried […]

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The Kremlin said Monday it respects the secession referendum in eastern Ukraine and hopes for a "civilized implementation" of the results through talks between Kiev and representatives in the east. , ratcheting up tensions between the West and Moscow. In its first comments since the referendum, the Kremlin appears to challenge the West and Kiev’s standpoint that it was illegitimate. The Kremlin statement said that Moscow welcomes all possible efforts to start negotiations between Kiev and separatist regions with the involvement of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. "Moscow views with respect the expression of the will of the people of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and expects that the practical implementation of the outcome of the referendums will be carried […]

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Pro-Russian groups said large majorities voted in favor of secession in referendums they organized in eastern Ukraine that were dismissed as illegitimate by the government in Kiev and its U.S. and European allies. In Donetsk, 90 percent of voters backed the breakaway plan, RIA Novosti reported late yesterday, citing Roman Liagin, head of the local election committee. In Luhansk, the other region voting, 94 percent to 98 percent supported autonomy with turnout at 75 percent, RIA said. Final results are due later today. The votes went ahead amid violent clashes between government troops and pro-Russian rebels. Ukraine’s acting president called them a “farce.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused by Kiev and its allies of stoking the separatist unrest. He hasn’t decided his position on the referendums, the Kommersant newspaper reported. The referendums are “inspired by Russia ’s leaders to completely destabilize Ukraine, undermine presidential elections and overthrow […]

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Pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine vowed on Thursday to press ahead with a referendum seeking autonomy, a risky move that seemed to defy their political patron, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, whose motives in urging a delay in the vote came under furious attack by officials in Kiev. A day after Mr. Putin scrambled the political landscape by suggesting the vote be put off, militant leaders in Donetsk, Luhansk and Slovyansk said they would go ahead on Sunday as scheduled. Far from mollified by Mr. Putin’s new stance, Ukrainian officials expressed deep suspicions, accusing him of trying to replay events preceding Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Although the ability of separatists to stage a legitimate ballot is highly in doubt, the mere possibility that Russia would use the vote as a pretext for another territorial grab had officials in Kiev calling the referendum illegal and insisting that action […]

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Pro-Russian activists in eastern Ukraine are due to consider a proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to delay referendums on autonomy. Mr Putin said putting off the vote could help create the conditions necessary for dialogue. Separatist leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk say they will put the matter before "people’s councils". But Ukrainian authorities said "anti-terror" operations would continue regardless of the rebels’ decision. The referendums are due to take place on Sunday and millions of ballot papers have been prepared. And in what appeared to be a further shift in Russian policy, Mr Putin also said on Wednesday that this month’s presidential elections in Ukraine were a move "in the right direction". His remarks came days after his spokesman said holding such an election would be absurd. Military operation continues Moscow has vowed to protect the rights of the largely Russian-speaking people in the south and east against […]

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President Vladimir V. Putin, faced with rising violence in southeastern Ukraine that threatened to draw in the Russian Army at great cost and prompt severe new Western economic sanctions, pressed pause on Wednesday in what had started to look like an inevitable march toward war. But it remained unclear to analysts and political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic whether he was truly reversing course on Ukraine or if this was just another of his judo-inspired feints. Using a far less ominous tone than in previous remarks about Ukraine, Mr. Putin told a news conference at the Kremlin that Russia had withdrawn its troops from along the border and that he had asked separatists to drop plans for a referendum on sovereignty this Sunday. Russia would even accept Ukraine’s presidential election on May 25, he said, if demands for autonomy from the country’s east were recognized. […]

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President Vladimir Putin moved to pull Ukraine back from the brink of breakup Wednesday, calling on separatists to put off a secession vote, softening his attacks on a presidential election and saying his troops had withdrawn from the border. Mr. Putin’s change of tone came after , which has taken dozens of lives and brought East-West relations to their lowest point since the Cold War. But Washington was dismissive and immediately questioned whether Moscow was genuinely committed to stabilizing Ukraine, where the government in Kiev is strongly pro-Western. The Pentagon said it had seen no evidence to back Mr. Putin’s claim that he had called back the tens of thousands of troops deployed to Ukraine’s border last month. The Obama administration noted Mr. Putin failed to call on the pro-Russian separatists to lay down their arms or vacate to the referendum they plan to hold on Sunday. Kiev and […]

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Both sides have been burying their dead as Ukraine slides further towards war, with supporters of Russia and of a united Ukraine accusing each other of tearing the country apart. Tuesday was generally quieter than past days in most of eastern and southern Ukraine, but violence flared at dusk in the eastern port of Mariupol, where a spokesman for pro-Moscow militants told Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency that one person was killed and three wounded in an attack on a checkpoint. In Kramatorsk, a separatist-held town in the east that saw an advance by Ukrainian troops at the weekend, the coffin of 21-year-old nurse Yulia Izotova was carried through streets stilled by barricades of tires and tree trunks on Monday. Scattered red carnations traced the route. At the Holy Trinity Church, seven priests led mourners in prayer for a woman killed by large caliber bullets, which […]

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Surging casualties are threatening to undermine Ukraine’s campaign to regain ground from pro-Russian militants in its easternmost cities, where insurgents killed four government troops and downed a military helicopter. Four government servicemen died yesterday in fighting that may have killed about 30 rebels, acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook account. French President Francois Hollande said he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that Europe would continue to pressure him to let Ukraine hold a May 25 presidential election and if it is thwarted, “chaos and a risk of war” would follow. “We must do everything to avoid civil war,” Hollande said on France ’s BFM TV-RMC radio today. “You know when it starts but never when it ends.” Efforts by the government in Kiev to expel insurgents from the easternmost regions are at risk of stalling less than three weeks before the ballot. German Chancellor Angela Merkel […]

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Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine spun further out of the central government’s control on Sunday as a mob stormed a police station in this Black Sea port and freed from detention Continue Reading

As Ukraine tries to contain a pro-Russian insurgency convulsing its eastern region, a perhaps more significant struggle for the country hinges on what happens beneath the ground here in a Continue Reading

Ukraine continued military operations to dislodge rebels from its eastern industrial heartland as violence that’s spread to the Black Sea gateway of Odessa threatens to loosen Kiev’s control of the regions.  Government troops Continue Reading

In the ongoing battle of wits, Russia and the West are out – oiling their energy arsenals – to achieve strategic objectives. In this rather crowded geopolitical chess board, with Continue Reading

Two days after Ukraine’s interim government declared itself all but helpless to control events in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian military and police forces on Friday resumed their effort to retake this rebel-controlled city, forcing armed separatists from the city’s outskirts with armored vehicles, helicopters and ground troops. When clashes drew to a close by early afternoon, the Ukrainian troops had advanced, capturing separatist checkpoints and posting infantry and armored vehicles on a bridge overlooking rail lines beside the city’s southern border. In the previously tranquil port city of Odessa, on the Black Sea, 38 people died in a fire related to clashes that broke out between protesters holding a march for Ukrainian unity and pro-Russian activists. The fighting itself left four dead and 12 wounded, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said. Ukrainian and Russian news media showed images of buildings and debris burning, fire bombs being put together and […]

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Russia’s energy minister on Friday questioned Ukraine’s ability to pay for Russian natural gas and said state-controlled OAO Gazprom will ask that deliveries scheduled in June be paid for upfront, which he said poses a risk of supply disruption to European customers. Ukraine owes more than $3.5 billion for Russian natural gas, said Energy Minister Alexander Novak after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, Yuriy Prodan and European Union energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger. Kiev and Moscow have long quarreled over the price of natural gas Gazprom charges Ukraine’s state-owned energy firm Naftogaz. As of April 1, Russia nearly doubled what it charges Ukraine to $485.50 per 1,000 cubic meters from $268.50 per 1,000 cubic meters. Mr. Prodan said Kiev isn’t ready to pay the price demanded by Gazprom, which supplies about 30% of Europe’s gas needs, with around half of that traveling through pipes that cross Ukraine. "We have discriminatory gas […]

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Russia’s energy minister on Friday questioned Ukraine’s ability to pay for Russian natural gas and said state-controlled OAO Gazprom will ask that deliveries scheduled in June be paid for upfront, which he said poses a risk of supply disruption to European customers. Ukraine owes more than $3.5 billion for Russian natural gas, said Energy Minister Alexander Novak after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, Yuriy Prodan and European Union energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger. Kiev and Moscow have long quarreled over the price of natural gas Gazprom charges Ukraine’s state-owned energy firm Naftogaz. As of April 1, Russia nearly doubled what it charges Ukraine to $485.50 per 1,000 cubic meters from $268.50 per 1,000 cubic meters. Mr. Prodan said Kiev isn’t ready to pay the price demanded by Gazprom, which supplies about 30% of Europe’s gas needs, with around half of that traveling through pipes that cross Ukraine. "We have discriminatory gas […]

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Ukrainian forces attacked the rebel-held city of Slaviansk before dawn on Friday and pro-Russia separatists shot down at least one attack helicopter, killing a pilot, in a sharp escalation of the conflict. Describing the use of anti-aircraft missiles as proof of the presence of Russian special forces in the town that has become the military stronghold of the pro-Moscow movement, Ukrainian officials said Slaviansk was "tightly surrounded" and called on separatist leaders to release hostages and surrender. Reuters journalists in the city of 130,000 heard shooting from shortly after 4 a.m. (9 p.m. EDT Thursday) and saw a military helicopter open fire. Ukrainian troops could be in seen in armored personnel carriers in a southern suburb. The SBU security service said one military Mi-24 helicopter gunship had been shot down, killing one airman while a second had been taken prisoner by the rebels. It said […]

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Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Ukraine to withdraw forces from its easternmost regions as the International Monetary Fund warned that extra financing may be needed if control of the industrial heartland is lost. In a telephone call yesterday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin also demanded an end to violence gripping cities in southeastern Ukraine, according to a Kremlin statement. The Ukrainian conflict will top the agenda when Merkel and U.S. President Barack Obama meet today in Washington, according to White House spokesman Jay Carney. “We expect to continue a path that sees an international coalition escalating the costs that Russia will have to endure” if it “continues to destabilize the situation in eastern Ukraine and southern Ukraine, or even goes further and uses its forces to cross the border,” Carney told reporters yesterday. Ukraine no longer controls the eastern city of Donetsk, Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said on […]

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Ukraine ’s easternmost regions are slipping from the government’s grasp as separatists take over more official buildings, with the International Monetary Fund warning extra financing may be needed if control of the industrial heartland is lost. Armed men stormed the Donetsk regional prosecutors’ office today, throwing stones and stun grenades. Pro-Russian rebels in nearby Slovyansk said they’d begun talks to swap international monitors abducted last week, the Interfax news service said. Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov signed a decree backed by lawmakers last month to reinstate a military draft, his office said on its website. “The government doesn’t control the situation in Donetsk as well as part of the Donetsk region,” Turchynov said yesterday in Kiev. “Because there is a real threat of Russia starting a continental war, our army is on full combat alert.” The IMF, which approved a $17 billion bailout for Ukraine early today, said “a […]

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Angela Merkel is carrying a clear message from Germany’s business lobby to the White House: No more sanctions. Several of the biggest names in German business—including chemical giant SE, engineering group Siemens AG , AG , Adidas AG and Deutsche Bank AG —have made their opposition to broader economic sanctions against Russia clear in recent weeks, both in public and in private. As a result, Germany’s position on additional, tougher sanctions is unlikely to shift, barring a dramatic escalation of the conflict in Ukraine—a message Ms. Merkel is expected to deliver to President Barack Obama when they meet in Washington on Friday, officials in Berlin say. Sanctions on Russia: Who is Who Europe and the U.S. announced new sanctions in late April in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. EU sanctions focus on individuals but U.S. sanctions also target banks and other companies. Here is a full list. […]

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Exxon Mobil Corp. is pushing ahead with its plans to drill in Russia’s Arctic seas—its biggest opportunity to discover untapped deposits of oil and gas—even though deteriorating relations between Moscow and Washington have increased the risks. America’s biggest energy producer is set this summer to tap what it calls the University Prospect in the Arctic’s Kara Sea, a trove that could hold the equivalent of 9 billion barrels of oil—more than a third of Exxon’s proven reserves. That prize looks riskier as tensions increase between the West and Moscow over Russia’s . U.S. sanctions this week targeted Igor Sechin, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin and head of OAO , Exxon’s Kremlin-controlled partner in the Arctic. The sanctions didn’t extend to Rosneft itself. "All of the activities that we had originally planned for this year are under way," David Rosenthal, Exxon’s vice president of investor relations, said Thursday […]

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As it tries to punish Moscow for its intervention in Ukraine , the White House asserts that the sanctions it has imposed have had a “significant impact” on Russia ’s economy, but their real effect so far, according to economic specialists, appears to be more psychological than tangible. White House officials have pointed to the fall of the Russian ruble and Moscow stock markets as evidence of the success they have had in pressuring the Kremlin. Yet the ruble and Russian markets fell before President Obama began imposing sanctions. Today, in fact, both the ruble and the markets are slightly stronger than they were before the first sanctions were announced. Russia’s economic downturn predated any action by the United States or Europe and, to some extent, predated the Ukraine crisis. Specialists said the volatility surrounding Ukraine has clearly aggravated Russia’s economic problems by sapping international confidence, punishing […]

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The latest  sanctions against Russian officials, provoked by Russia’s ongoing violation of Ukraine’s territory, have sparked much criticism because of their perceived weakness. The U.S. is currently targeting wealthy and well-connected individuals, such as Igor Sechin, a crony of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but not companies such as the state-owned energy giant Rosneft, which is the source of Sechin’s wealth. This means that Sechin and other select members of Putin’s inner circle can’t personally travel to or invest in the U.S., but the companies they run can continue business as usual. The Wall Street Journal has accused President Barack Obama of watering down the sanctions, a claim echoed by The Washington Post and by hawkish members of congress such as Sen. John McCain . Russia has responded with mockery. As Sechin himself put it , “I consider Washington’s latest steps as high assessment of the effectiveness of our work.” […]

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The US and Europe have yet to fully deploy their  bluntest weapon against Vladimir Putin. But if stronger sanctions are deployed against him, the Russian president is vowing to make life very painful for the western oil companies doing business in his country. The US this week  quietly targeted  some Russian oil industry bosses in its latest round of sanctions, and Europe has altogether avoided oil in its list of new targets. But on April 29, Putin suggested that he’s prepared to mount an oil war if antagonized further. “We would very much wish not to resort to any measures in response,” Putin said. “I hope we won’t get to that point. But if something like that continues, we will of course have to think about who is working in the key sectors of the Russian economy, including the energy sector, and how.” The remark appeared to be a swipe at lucrative long-term Russian projects […]

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It is by now a well-established pattern. Armed, masked men in their 20s to 40s storm a public building of high symbolic value in a city somewhere in eastern Ukraine, evict anyone still there, seize weapons and ammunition, throw up barricades and proclaim themselves the rulers of a “people’s republic.” It is not clear who is in charge or how the militias are organized. Through such tactics, a few thousand pro-Russian militants have seized buildings in about a dozen cities, effectively establishing control over much of an industrial region of about 6.5 million nestled against the Russian border. Day by day, in the areas surrounding the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, pro-Russian forces have defied all efforts by the central government to re-establish its authority, and on Wednesday, Ukraine’s acting president conceded what had long been obvious: The government’s police and security officials had lost control. […]

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Exxon Mobil (XOM) Corp.’s dream of drilling in the Russian Arctic may risk running aground on the politics of Ukraine. The company plans to start drilling in August in the Arctic’s remote Kara Sea — the centerpiece of Exxon’s global alliance with Russian state-controlled OAO Rosneft. (ROSN) The partnership, which includes shale exploration in Siberia and joint venture fields in Texas , will come under greater scrutiny after the U.S. placed sanctions on Rosneft’s Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin . “With Sechin being sanctioned it may complicate relations for Rosneft with western companies,” said Mattias Westman, who oversees about $3.3 billion in Russia assets as CEO of Prosperity Capital . “Maybe some transactions will be threatened as a result and perhaps Russia will counter and they will be less keen for American companies to work on Arctic projects.” Patrick McGinn, a spokesman for Exxon’s exploration arm, said on April […]

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Hundreds of pro-Moscow separatists stormed government buildings in one of Ukraine’s provincial capitals on Tuesday and fired on police holed up in a regional headquarters, a major escalation of their revolt despite new Western sanctions on Russia. New U.S. and EU sanctions packages, announced with fanfare, were seen as so mild that Russian share prices rose in relief. A small number of names were added to existing blacklists, while threats to take more serious measures were put on hold. Nevertheless, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by threatening to reconsider Western participation in energy deals in Russia, the world’s biggest oil producer, where most major U.S. and European oil companies have extensive projects. Demonstrators smashed their way into the provincial government headquarters in Luhansk, Ukraine’s easternmost province, which abuts the Russian border, and raised separatist flags over the building, while police did nothing to interfere. As […]

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