Putin Puts Squeeze on EU Over Ukraine

摘要

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that a looming cutoff in natural gas supplies to Ukraine would inevitably affect gas flows to Europe and urged the European Union to step in and help Kiev pay its gas bill. Putin warned that a switch to prepayment terms with Kiev would likely lead to a cutoff in supplies to Ukraine and a complete cutoff in deliveries to Europe in late June or early July. "Gazprom will only supply the gas which has been prepaid. Without the gas pumped into storage Ukraine will simply not survive and will be forced to take gas destined for transit," Reuters reported Putin as saying at a news conference in Helsinki.