Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has warned that natural gas supplies to Ukraine will be suspended if it siphons off the fuel from pipelines bound for Europe without paying for it.
Putin was speaking at a joint press conference Wednesday with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann after discussing with him a Russian-Austrian agreement that paves the way for South Stream pipe line project.
It proposes to pump 63 billion cubic meters of Central Asian and Russian gas to the Balkans and on to other European countries across the Black Sea, bypassing Ukraine.
Putin called upon Ukraine, a key transit point for Russian oil and gas supplies to many European countries, to fulfill all its contractual obligations.
"If they don't pay, they don't receive. If they don't receive, then most likely there will be removal from the export pipeline, and as soon as removal begins, we will cut supplies," Putin said, reminding the fuel crisis in January, when Russia halted all gas shipments to Europe via Ukraine for two weeks over a pricing dispute with Kiev.
Putin last week urged the EU to "open its wallet" to help Ukraine pay its gas bills.
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