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Ukraine expects Russian gas supplies to resume Monday: minister

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine expects Russia to resume supplies of gas from Monday after Kiev transferred a pre-payment of $378 million to Gazprom, its energy minister said on Sunday. Russia cut gas deliveries to Ukraine in mid-June in a dispute over prices and debts and supplies have remained suspended while the haggling played out against a background of worsening political relations caused by the separatist war in Ukraine, which Kiev says Moscow is promoting. Cash-strapped Kiev had delayed buying new supplies for as long as possible and had been drawing on severely depleted reserves to meet consumer demand as increasingly cold weather set in. But with freezing temperatures and in line with a deal signed by Ukraine’s gas company Naftogaz and Gazprom in October, Kiev late on Friday transferred $378 million to the Russian gas giant as an upfront payment for 1 billion cubic meters of gas for December. […]

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Ukrainians Face Blackouts as Power Plants Shut Down

A short circuit in a generator was responsible for the Nov. 28 shutdown of a… ENLARGE A short circuit in a generator was responsible for the Nov. 28 shutdown of a power unit at the Zaporizka plant, the largest nuclear station in Europe. Reuters Already facing a plunging currency and an armed conflict with pro-Russia militants, Ukrainians were also enduring blackouts this week after a fault knocked out a generator at a nuclear-power station and other plants ran low on coal. Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said on Wednesday that he would meet with regional officials to arrange voluntary restrictions on electricity usage and switch some enterprises to nighttime production. Officials blamed the power shortage on repairs of a generator that was damaged Nov. 28 at the Zaporizka nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, as well as low stocks of coal caused by fighting in the main eastern mining region. […]

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Shipping Chokepoint Strangles Ukraine Hopes for U.S. LNG

Ukraine’s plan to diminish its energy dependence on Russia is adrift in the Bosporus Strait. The nation, which gets half its gas from Russia, wants to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Black Sea and held talks with Cheniere Energy Inc. (LNG) to import U.S. cargoes. The only path to the terminal is through Istanbul’s 17-mile waterway. Turkey doesn’t allow LNG shipments through the Bosporus because of safety concerns and congestion. The strait is about half a mile wide at its narrowest point and classified as a maritime chokepoint, among the most difficult to navigate. “If Turkey were to agree to LNG ships transiting the Bosporus to deliver fuel to Ukraine, other states in the Black Sea would also want to invest in their own terminals,” Michelle Berman, the head of shipping and freight research at Business Monitor International in London, wrote in an e-mail Nov. 27. […]

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Falling oil prices hit Russia much harder than Western sanctions

President Vladimir Putin, who took office in the wake of his nation’s 1998 financial crisis, has made economic stability a cornerstone of his nearly 15 years as leader. (AP) MOSCOW — Plummeting oil prices are doing to the Kremlin what sanctions could not: forcing a grim rethinking of Russia’s economic future. Nine months into the worst relations between the West and Russia since the Cold War, the plunging price of oil is causing deeper and swifter pain than the Western sanctions that have targeted key areas of Russia’s economy. Russian leaders said Tuesday for the first time that their economy will head into recession next year. In a nation where oil and gas exports largely determine the bottom line, lawmakers are slashing spending promises. And the ruble is hitting historic lows every day. President Vladimir Putin, who took office in the wake of his nation’s 1998 financial crisis, has […]

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Kiev Says Limited Truce With Pro-Russian Separatists Reached

KIEV, Ukraine—The Ukranian government said Monday that it had reached a truce with pro-Russian separatists in one of the hottest spots of the monthslong conflict in eastern Ukraine, potentially signaling progress in the implementation of frequently violated peace accords. The fighting around the airport of the eastern city of Donetsk—the only outpost of the government forces in the area—ceased as Ukrainian and Russian military officials negotiated a cease-fire in the area, according to the Ukrainian press-center for the military operation in the eastern regions. Rebels didn’t immediately commented on the announcement, adding to the uncertainty about this latest effort. Multiple previous attempts to agree on “quiet periods” on top of the existing peace accords have often quickly broken down. A representative of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic’s hotline said he wasn’t authorized to speak on the matter, and other spokesmen couldn’t immediately be reached. Donetsk airport, a spot of […]

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Ukraine’s Oct transit of Russian natural gas to Europe down 47.5% on year

Home | News & Analysis | Latest News Headlines | Ukraine’s Oct transit of Russian natural gas to Europe down 47.5% on year Kiev (Platts)–21Nov2014/845 am EST/1345 GMT Ukraine’s transit of natural gas from Russia to Europe fell by 3.5 billion cubic meters in October to 3.87 billion cu m, down 47.5% from 7.37 Bcm in October 2013, an energy and coal industry ministry official said Friday. Gas transit in October also fell 1% from September, when Ukraine moved 3.91 Bcm of gas from Russia to Europe. In January through October, Ukraine’s transit of gas from Russia to Europe dropped by 15.8 Bcm to 54.1 Bcm, down 22.6% from 69.9 Bcm in the same period a year ago, the official said, citing preliminary figures. Ukraine, the main supplier of gas from Russia, is capable of shipping up to 120 Bcm/year of gas to Europe through its pipelines. Russia supplies […]

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NATO Says Russian Forces in Ukraine as Putin Goes to G-20

NATO’s chief said Russia is sending troops and heavy weapons into Ukraine as President Vladimir Putin heads to a Group of 20 summit in Australia that’s overshadowed by the crisis. “We have observed in the past days that Russia has again brought arms, equipment, artillery, tanks and rockets over the border into Ukraine,” North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with Germany ’s Bild newspaper. Ukraine is threatened with a return to open warfare, as seen before the Sept. 5 truce that’s being violated on an almost daily basis. More than 4,000 people have died in fighting, according to United Nations estimates. It’s the worst standoff between Russia and its former Cold War foes since the Iron Curtain fell 25 years ago. Waging Financial War “President Putin has clearly broken the truce agreement and has violated Ukraine’s integrity,” Stoltenberg said, according to Bild. Russia, […]

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Ukraine Tensions Rise as U.S., EU Weigh More Sanctions

The European Union and the U.S. will weigh further sanctions against Russia ’s economy and Ukrainian separatists, after the reported movement of tanks, artillery and combat troops into eastern Ukraine. Representatives of the EU’s 28 member states and the U.S. are meeting today in Brussels to discuss imposing new penalties on individuals or on the Russian economy for the country’s interference in Ukraine, according to diplomats close to the talks. While no consensus has been reached yet, officials will prepare options for an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Nov. 17, when the group could move to expand penalties, said the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to be quoted. “The situation on the ground is very tense,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today. Asked whether he expects an attack, Klimkin said: “We are of course […]

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Russian Troops Crossing Into Ukraine, NATO Says

KIEV, Ukraine — Tanks and other military vehicles towing heavy weapons pouring over the border from Russia into eastern Ukraine . Nightly artillery battles in the region’s biggest city, Donetsk, and reports of fighting around another regional capital. And now, sightings of the “green men,” professional soldiers in green uniforms without insignia, the same type of forces that carried out the invasion of Crimea in the spring. A senior NATO official confirmed on Wednesday what Ukrainian military officials and monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have been saying for days now: Russian troops and military equipment are crossing the border into Ukraine, seemingly preparing for renewed military action, though what exactly remains unclear. The assertion drew stern and dismissive denials from Moscow, which for months has denied any military intervention in eastern Ukraine, though it has acknowledged publicly that Russian “volunteers” have crossed into Ukraine […]

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Worst east Ukraine shelling for month; ceasefire looks in doubt

DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) – East Ukraine’s rebel stronghold Donetsk was pummeled on Sunday by the heaviest shelling in a month, and the OSCE said it spotted an armored column of troops without insignia in rebel territory that Kiev said proved Moscow had sent reinforcements. A two-month-old ceasefire to end a war that has killed 4,000 people has appeared shakier than ever in the past few days, with each side accusing the other of having violated the terms of the peace plan. Reuters journalists inside Donetsk, who have been there throughout the fighting, said the shelling sounded more intense than at any time since early October. Sunday’s strikes appeared to come from territory held by both government and rebel forces. Ukraine’s military said its standoff with the Russian-backed separatists in the east had intensified in the past week, which saw the rebels swear in new leaders after elections the government […]

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