Russia"s Gazprom confirmed on Thursday that...

On Wednesday, Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan pledged the former Soviet republic would pay on schedule $892 million for Russian gas supplied in December.

However, President Viktor Yushchenko had earlier said Ukrainian national energy company Naftogaz lacked the funds to pay and ordered Vladimir Stelmakh, head of Ukraine"s National Bank, to resolve the problem.

On December 31, the IMF permitted the Ukrainian government to spend $2 billion from the National Bank"s gold and foreign exchange reserves to pay for Russian gas deliveries.

Russia, which supplies around one quarter of Europe"s gas, briefly shut down supplies via Ukraine"s pipeline system at the start of 2009 amid a dispute over unpaid bills and new prices.

The conflict was resolved in January, when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko reached a deal on imports and transit for 2009.

Ukraine transits around 80% of Russia"s Europe-bound

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