Ukraine sold its first commercial shipment of gas to neighboring Moldova on Friday, joining a group of suppliers offering to help the neighboring country which says it has been driven to the brink by Moscow's decision to triple its price.
Russia is threatening to cut off Moldova's gas in a dispute over future prices and unpaid bills, in what the European Union and allies of Moldova's pro-Western government have called political blackmail.
Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries, said this week that Russia was demanding $790 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, raised from around $250 under a contract that expired in September, and that it cannot afford to pay. Industries have already been forced to curb production to conserve gas for households.
Allies of pro-Western President Maia Sandu, who defeated a Moscow-backed incumbent in an election last November, call the price hike punishment for Moldovan voters rejecting Russia's preferred candidate. Moscow says it is purely commercial, reflecting global markets.
In what is thought to be the first Ukrainian commercial deal to supply Moldova, Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz said on Friday it had won a tender to supply 500,000 cubic meters of gas to Moldovan state company Energocom. It would also participate in future tenders.
"Naftogaz is ready to supply the required volumes of gas to Moldova," the Ukrainian company said in a statement, giving no information on the price of the agreed deal.
Energocom said this week it had also bought 1.5 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas from companies DXT Commodities and PGNiG. The government has said it plans to buy around 5 mcm of gas by the end of October.
During a visit to Brussels, Moldova's Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita told Reuters the gas price increase proposed by Moscow was "extraordinary" and Moldova cannot afford it politically, economically or socially.
Serdgiu Tofilat, a former adviser to President Sandu, told Moldova's TV8 channel: "Russia has changed its approach to gas supplies. The Kremlin wants to punish the Moldovan people for voting against the pro-Russian party."
