Ukraine stops importing electricity from Russia

Ukraine has stopped importing electric power from Russia. The move came on Monday after the country had been importing electricity for the last two and a half months, at a cost of over $US 44 million.

Ukraine planed to reduce the volumes of electrical power arriving from Russia. As a result of these plans the importing of Russian electricity has stopped, explained the Press Secretary of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine, Fent Dee.

Ukraine started to buy electric power from Russia on September 15, 2008. Its purchase was necessary due to repairs being carried out at the second power unit of the Khmelnitskaya atomic power station. At the same time Ukraine continued to export its own electricity to Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Fuel and Energy, the prices for the imported Russian electric power were 12 per cent below the prices in the wholesale market.