MOSCOW, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Russia's natural gas company Gazprom said Tuesday it will cut gas deliveries to Ukraine by another 25 percent, news agencies reported.
The gas giant will slash gas delivery as of 8 p.m. Moscow time (1700 GMT) on Tuesday, due to a failure to settle debt, Interfax cited Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov as saying.
Gazprom reduced its supplies to Ukraine Monday by a further 10 percent after the first 25-percent cut earlier the same day, said Valentin Zemlyansky, spokesman for Ukrainian national gas company Naftogaz.
"According to the latest statistics, supplies have been cut by 35 percent, total reductions in supplies stood at 46 million cubic meters," Zemlyansky said.
Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said Ukraine had consumed without Russian authorization around 1.9 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas from the beginning of this year, worth some 600 million U.S. dollars.
The two sides failed at the last minute to sign a deal, under which they agreed that Ukraine would pay its debt for Russian gas deliveries and that a new delivery scheme would be worked out, Kupriyanov said.
Ukraine sits on the main transit route for Russia's gas exports to Europe, where a quarter of its gas needs is supplied by Russia.
The gas giant will slash gas delivery as of 8 p.m. Moscow time (1700 GMT) on Tuesday, due to a failure to settle debt, Interfax cited Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov as saying.
Gazprom reduced its supplies to Ukraine Monday by a further 10 percent after the first 25-percent cut earlier the same day, said Valentin Zemlyansky, spokesman for Ukrainian national gas company Naftogaz.
"According to the latest statistics, supplies have been cut by 35 percent, total reductions in supplies stood at 46 million cubic meters," Zemlyansky said.
Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said Ukraine had consumed without Russian authorization around 1.9 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas from the beginning of this year, worth some 600 million U.S. dollars.
The two sides failed at the last minute to sign a deal, under which they agreed that Ukraine would pay its debt for Russian gas deliveries and that a new delivery scheme would be worked out, Kupriyanov said.
Ukraine sits on the main transit route for Russia's gas exports to Europe, where a quarter of its gas needs is supplied by Russia.
