Russia's OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) has warned that the Soviet-built transit pipes that carry most of its gas to Europe could suffer breakdowns this winter because of chronic neglect by Ukraine, The Financial Times reports on its Web site Wednesday.
"The situation is worsening every year and we are quite concerned...because some problems might arise because there is higher pressure on the network in this (winter) period," Gazprom spokesperson Sergey Kupriyanov is quoted as saying during a visit to Brussels Tuesday.
Kupriyanov said that liquidity problems had prevented Naftogaz, the Ukrainian energy company, from performing proper maintenance on its transit network for years, the FT reports.