Ukraine has started receiving natural gas from Russia once again, after making its advanced payment last Friday, Russian natural gas company Gazprom confirmed Tuesday.
The legal procedure for Russia to export gas to Ukraine began when Ukraine's Naftogaz company pre-paid $378 million on Dec. 5 for the receipt of one billion cubic meters of gas.
"Naftogaz applied for the 43.5 million cubic meters per day of gas today," Sergey Kupriyanov, a Gazprom official said. Since Ukraine paid in advance, the gas flow restarted at 10:00 am local time on Tuesday.
Russia had cut its gas flow to Ukraine in June due to billions of dollars in missed installments for past gas deliveries.
Russia, the EU and Ukraine agreed on the terms of payment and the restart of gas exports on Oct. 30.
Reporting by James Slavyanski and Writing by Zeynep Beyza Karabay
Anadolu Agency
zeynep.karabay@aa.com.tr