Russia hikes natural gas price for Ukraine

 

Moscow: Russia on Tuesday sharply hiked the price for natural gas to Ukraine, raising the heat on its cash-strapped government, while Ukrainian police moved to disarm members of a radical nationalist group after a shooting spree in the capital.

 

Foreign ministers of Germany, Poland and France are consulting on the crisis in Ukraine ahead of a meeting with their NATO counterparts. Tuesday’s meeting in Weimar, Germany is part of a German-led attempt to revive the so-called Weimar Triangle, a group set up in 1991 after communism crumbled but has been increasingly neglected in recent years. The Ukraine crisis breathed new life into the group, and the three foreign ministers travelled together to Kiev in February where they were able to help broker a deal to end the deadly violence. In a joint statement ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, the Ministers said NATO must “reassure the security of our allies.”

 

Discount withdrawn-

 

Alexei Miller, the head of Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom natural gas giant, said on Tuesday that the company has withdrawn December’s discount that put the price of gas at $268.50 per 1,000 cubic meters and set the price at $385.50 per 1,000 cubic meters for the second quarter. The discount was part of a financial lifeline Russia’s President Vladimir Putin offered to Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych after his decision to ditch a pact with the European Union in favour of closer ties with Moscow. The move fuelled three months of protests which forced Mr. Yanukovych to flee to Russia in February.

 

Radical nationalist groups played a key role in Mr. Yanukovych’s ouster, but they quickly fell out with the new government. Last week, one of the leaders of the most prominent radical group, the Right Sector, was shot dead while resisting police. Right Sector members then besieged parliament for several hours, breaking windows and demanding the resignation of Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. They lifted the blockade after lawmakers set up a panel to investigate the killing.

 

Late Monday, a Right Sector member shot and wounded three people outside a restaurant adjacent to Kiev’s main Independence Square, including a deputy city mayor, triggering a standoff that lasted overnight.

 

Police surrounded the downtown Dnipro Hotel, which Right Sector had commandeered as its headquarters, demanding that the radicals lay down their weapons and leave. Mr. Avakov said that Right Sector members got into buses on Tuesday morning leaving their weapons behind and headed to a suburban camp under the escort of officers of Ukraine’s Security Service.

 

Russia has pointed at Right Sector’s actions to push its claim that the new Ukrainian government was kowtowing to nationalist radicals, who threaten Russian-speakers in south eastern Ukraine. Russia has pointed at the perceived threat from ultranationalists to defend its annexation of Crimea, and has concentrated tens of thousands of troops along its border with Ukraine, drawing Western fears of an invasion.

 

Mr. Putin and other officials have said that Russia has no intention of invading Ukraine. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu insisted on Tuesday that the Kremlin wants a “political settlement that would take into account interests and rights of the entire Ukrainian people” and had no intention to threaten Ukraine’s statehood.

 

At the same time, Russia has used financial levers to hit Ukraine that is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Gazprom’s Miller said that the decision to charge a higher price in the second quarter was made because Ukraine has failed to pay off its debt for past supplies, which now stands at $1.7 billion.

 

WEIMAR Foreign ministers of Germany, Poland and France are consulting on the crisis in Ukraine ahead of a meeting with their NATO counterparts. Tuesday’s meeting in Weimar, Germany is part of a German—led attempt to revive the so—called Weimar Triangle, a group set up in 1991 after communism crumbled but has been increasingly neglected in recent years.

 

The Ukraine crisis breathed new life the group, and the three foreign ministers traveled together to Kiev in February where they were able to help broker a deal to end the deadly violence. In a joint statement ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, the ministers said NATO must “reassure the security of our allies.”