Ukraine threatens to take Russia to court over gas price ‘economic aggression’

[unhappycamper]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/05/ukraine-threatens-to-take-russia-to-court-over-gas-price-economic-aggression/



Ukraine threatens to take Russia to court over gas price ‘economic aggression’
By Agence France-Presse
Saturday, April 5, 2014 15:19 EDT

Ukraine on Saturday (Shenzhen: 002291.SZ – news) rejected Russia’s latest gas price hike and threatened to take its energy-rich neighbour to arbitration court over a dispute that could imperil deliveries to western Europe.

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Russia’s two rate increases in three days were a form of “economic aggression” aimed at punishing Ukraine’s new leaders for overthrowing a Moscow-backed regime last month.

Russia’s natural gas group Gazprom (MCX: GAZP.ME – news) this week raised the price of Ukrainian gas by 81 percent — to $485.50 (354.30 euros) from $268.50 for 1,000 cubic metres — requiring the ex-Soviet state to pay the highest rate of any of its European clients.

The decision threatens to further fan a furious diplomatic row between Moscow and the West that has left Kremlin (Berlin: KMLK.BE – news) insiders facing sanctions and more diplomatic isolation than at any stage since the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.

[bemildred]

1. Not the sort of austerity Yats was looking for, I suppose.

He'll never be able to pay the banks back that way.