Naftogaz Sets Aside Gas Cash
KIEV — Ukrainian state-owned gas company Naftogaz has put aside $3.1 billion to buy gas for the winter, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said, warning that the country would not survive without supplies of Russian gas.
Yatsenyuk said Friday that Ukraine, to whom Russia's Gazprom cut supplies on June 16 in a pricing dispute, needed another 5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas.
Ukraine has been trying to secure more gas from the European Union and cut consumption levels from last year's 50 billion cubic meters. (Reuters)
MTS Boosts Ericsson Deal
Russia's biggest mobile phone operator, MTS, has increased its contract with Swedish telecom equipment supplier Ericsson to more than $1.5 billion.
MTS said Friday that it had signed an additional $286 million contract with Ericsson for the expansion and modernization of its 2G, 3G and LTE networks across Russia. Ericsson also signed a seven-year partnership agreement with Russia's No. 2 mobile operator MegaFon this month. (Reuters)
