Gas supplies to more than 20 European countries from Russia via Ukraine were disrupted for almost two weeks in January amid a spat over prices and transit fees. Russian lawmakers have cited disagreements over transit issues as a reason for not ratifying the current Energy Charter.
Under an agreement to end the gas dispute, Ukraine's state-run energy company, Naftogaz Ukrainy, is due to pay Gazprom $400 million for gas imports from Russia in February by Saturday. The company has said it will not miss the payment.
Should Ukraine fail to pay on time, Russia will only supply the fuel on "a prepayment basis," Medvedev said.
"Of course, we hate turning back to the previous scenario, this is certainly not our choice, but I can tell you frankly that we will have to act correspondingly if they refuse to pay," he said.
The January cutoff, which echoed a similar conflict three years earlier, led to renewed calls for the European Union to diversify its sources of energy away from Russia.
Medvedev criticized the reaction in Spain to a possible bid from LUKoil, Russia's largest nonstate oil producer, for a stake in Repsol. Claims that the proposal would endanger Spain's security were based on "stereotypes" and contradicted "the idea of a united Europe," he said.
"In this case, we are simply dividing all investments into good and bad ones, as well as investors into right and wrong ones, which is a new Berlin Wall, but this time in the economy," Medvedev said. "As far as I know, the companies are still in talks," he said.
A LUKoil spokesman declined to comment on the remarks. He asked not to be identified, citing company policy. Kristian Rix, a spokesman for Repsol, said by telephone that the company reiterated the statement made by chief executive Antonio Brufau on Feb. 26.
Medvedev also said Russia should avoid social unrest as the first recession in a decade approaches because improvements to the economy and welfare systems have made the country far more robust than it was in the 1990s.
Author: Ksenia Kochneva
