No Progress In Gazprom-Naftogaz Talks; Possible Monday Cutoff Looms

No breakthrough was reported Sunday in talks between Russia and Ukraine over the latter's debt, raising the likelihood Moscow will cut off natural gas supplies as early as Monday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin thinks another country is behind Kiev's "arrogant" position.

Ukraine is as much as $35 billion in arrears on its gas payments to Russian gas giant Gazprom. Gazprom has demanded an immediate $1.95 billion payment, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller is in Kiev for the last-ditch round of talks, the company told ITAR-Tass Sunday.

Reuters reported no breakthrough as talks ended for the day.

Naftogaz head Andriy Kobolev said a cutoff will likely mean rationing though Ukraine has enough gas stored to get it through the summer.

He said Ukraine has offered to pay $326 per 1,000 cubic meters through July 2015, representing an average of the proposals submitted by Gazprom and Naftogaz. Once the price is set, he said, Ukraine will pay its debt.

Lavrov accused the West of shielding Ukraine, prompting Kiev to reject "reasonable compromises offered by the Russian side and supported by the European Union. We would not like this arrogant and uncompromising position to be backed by a third power although we have good reason to think it is."

Lavrov said the attitude is carrying over to other areas, including the arrests of Russian journalists and the recent attack on the Russian Embassy in Kiev, ITAR-Tass reported.

“Similar approaches are demonstrated in their categorical statements about their (Ukrainian officials') commitment to sign a free trade and association agreement with the European Union exactly on June 27, despite their promises to hold three-party consultations, involving Russia and the European Union, on how to avoid collision of interests of Ukraine’s closer relations with the European Union and its rights and obligations as a member of the free trade zone of the Commonwealth of Independent States," Lavrov said.

Ukraine has threatened to take the issue to the International Court of Arbitration if gas supplies are cut off.

In Moscow, lawmakers urged Ukraine to fire Acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deschytsia for describing Russian President Vladmir Putin as male sexual appendage, Reuters reported.