Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will seek help for Ukraine to pay for Russian natural gas at the next European Union summit to prevent supplies to the E.U. being disrupted again, he said Thursday.
Ukraine was in a terrible economic situation and couldn't guarantee payment for Russian gas, Berlusconi told a conference in Rome.
"Russia says it can't put in 15 billion cubic meters to guarantee gas supplies next winter, which are worth about EUR5 billion, and hence it is turning to the E.U. to share the costs," said Berlusconi.
The Italian government will on Russia's behalf ask the next E.U. summit -slated for June 18-19 in Brussels - to tackle the issue, he said.
Monday, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said Ukraine had neither sufficient time to store natural gas for next winter nor the money to pay for supplies, flagging up a risk that of parts of Europe might have their supplies cut in the depths of winter.
For this reason Russia is discussing the issue with the E.U. and European energy companies, Shmatko said.
Russia supplies around a quarter of the E.U.'s gas needs, with about 80% of Russian gas transiting Ukraine.