Kyiv denies resuming gas supply to LPR and DPR
Naftogaz of Ukraine has refuted reports of it resuming the natural gas supply to the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
“The news that we are going to supply gas to the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) is a fake. If we are ordered to supply gas to these Ukrainian territories before they are liberated and without the ability to collect money for this, we’ll tell you,” Naftogaz wrote on Facebook.
At present, decree No. 867 establishes the regulations for special gas supply obligations in Ukraine. “In this decree is point 5, where it says that the obligation to supply gas to the population, religious organizations or thermal specialists does not extend to the temporarily occupied LPR and DPR territories. No amendments have been made to this regulation,” Naftogaz emphasized.
The Cabinet of Ministers removed the debts of these enterprises from the calculations in order to calculate the accounts for facilities in the uncontrolled territories. “Now these old debts, which appeared before 31 December 2014 and were generated by facilities that are currently in the temporarily occupied territory, will not be taken into account when determining the account levels of the portion that has remained in controlled territory,” Naftogaz noted.
The company said that it will expect the leadership of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces to provide a list of debtor companies located in the uncontrolled territories and the amount owed by them.
In February 2015, the Russian gas company Gazprom started supplying gas to the Donbas territories not under Kyiv’s control.
Gazprom added this gas to the amount owed by Naftogaz, but the Ukrainian company refused to pay for it. At the end of 2017, the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce ruled that Naftogaz of Ukraine does not have to pay for gas supplied to the LPR and the DPR.