MOSCOW, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Russian natural gas
monopoly Gazprom reached an agreement on Wednesday with Ukraine which says that
the Ukrainian government will urge its enterprises to pay gas debt to the
Russian company, Russian media reported.
Gazprom warned Ukraine on Tuesday of its reduction of
gas supply to Ukraine if the 1.3 billion U.S. dollars debt it owed were not paid
off this month. Ukraine, however, said that it is related companies not the
government that owe those debts.
Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev
told visiting Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Yury Boiko that the debt
dispute will not affect gas supply to European countries.
Gazprom fills about one quarter of Europe's gas
demand and 80 percent of which was transferred via Ukraine.