Russia cuts off gas to Ukraine as dispute over unpaid bills continues

Russia has cut off gas to Ukraine in a row over unpaid bills that could eventually disrupt fuel supplies to other parts of Europe.

Russia's energy giant Gazprom announced its decision to introduce pre-payment regime with Ukraine's Naftogaz company, as they have failed to pay its multi-billion-U.S. dollar gas bills, the Xinhua news agency reports.

In a statement, Gazprom explained that the decision was made because of chronic non-payment by Ukraine's Naftogaz. Arrears by the company for Russian gas deliveries stand at 4.458 billion dollars, of this, 1.451 billion dollars is owed for deliveries between November and December, 2013, and 3.007 billion dollars for April-May this year.

Gazprom has filed a lawsuit before the Stockholm arbitration court demanding Ukraine pay off the gas debt. However, Naftogaz also brought a litigation at the same court to contest the pricing of natural gas it imports from Gazprom.