BRUSSELS--Ukraine and Russia came closer to a truce in their long-running feud over natural gas prices after agreeing to fresh proposals to break the deadlock, theEuropean Union's energy chief, Gunther Oettinger, said.
The two sides agreed to consider a new proposed price for natural gas and will re-convene by the middle of next week for further talks, he said.
It will now be up to Russian gas giant OAO Gazprom and Ukraine state energy firm Naftogaz to analyze the proposals before giving a verdict. If they agree, it would mark the end of a dispute that deepened after the ouster of Ukraine's former President Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian ally, in February.
Gazprom scrapped earlier discounts on April 1 and ramped up the price of gas to $485.50 per 1,000 cubic meters, up from of $268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Ukraine described the new price as "politically motivated," while Gazprom threatened to move to a pre-payment system for future gas supplies unless it received payment for debts of around $3.5 billion. It also said it could cut off supplies of gas to Ukraine, the main transit route for gas imports into the EU.
Source: Dow Jones Newswires
