Ukraine is ‘stealing’ gas: Russia

Russian state gas giant Gazprom accused Ukraine of “stealing” gas from Russian exports meant for clients in Europe, a charge immediately denied by Ukraine.

Russian state gas giant Gazprom accused Ukraine on Friday of “stealing” gas from Russian exports meant for clients in Europe, a charge immediately denied by Ukraine. “The Ukrainian side openly admits it is stealing gas and has no shame about it,” Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said at a briefing for journalists in Moscow.

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Kupriynavov put the amount of gas that he said had been illegally “siphoned” from pipelines crossing Ukrainian territory at 21 million cubic metres since Thursday.

Ukraine’s state gas company Naftogaz immediately denied Gazprom’s accusation of gas theft, but said it had “removed” gas from Russian volumes being shipped to European customers for “technical” reasons.