Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has threatened to cut natural gas supplies to neighbouring Ukraine if it failed to clear bills."The debt should be paid to the last ruble if they do not want the economy to suffer from Russian sanctions. The situation cannot be tolerated any longer," Medvedev said in an interview to Russia's three leading television channels on Wednesday night.
According to local media, Ukraine owes Russia more than USD 2 billion for the supplied gas.
"We are not pursuing a goal of cutting off supplies," Medvedev said.
"But if Ukraine fails to pay, we will use a whole arsenal of measures, there must be no illusions on this score, but we will fulfill our obligations to consumers in other countries, including Europe," he declared.
Earlier, Russian Gazprom monopoly threatened to cut off supplies from 1st January, 2009 as new contracts could not be signed as long as it had outstanding debt.
Gas talks between Russia and Ukraine have been closely watched by European countries, which import a quarter of their gas needs from Russia.
Ukraine transits about 80 per cent of Russian gas bound for Europe.
