Ukraine Says Paid Russia $786m for Gas Debt

Ukraine has paid $786 million to Russia in backpayments for natural gas deliveries, far less than the sum Gazprom demands, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Friday.

Yatseniuk said Kiev had paid the debt calculating the sum at a price of $268 per thousand cubic metres - the level Russia had agreed with Ukraine before nearly doubling the price after the ouster of Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich.

Gazprom has said Ukraine's debt for gas supplies will have risen to about $5.2 billion by June 7 unless Ukraine begins to pay it off.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Writing by Thomas Grove, Editing by Richard Balmforth)