Ukraine's national natural gas company Naftogaz said Thursday that its payments for imported gas to Russia's gas monopoly OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) might deteriorate due to a "catastrophe rise in nonpayment" from Ukraine's municipal services.
Naftogaz's indebtedness to Gazprom, together with a pricing dispute between the two countries, led to Gazprom's suspension of gas supply to Ukraine and several European countries in January.
Naftogaz said that municipal communal services owe it 4.6 billion hryvnia ($563 million).