KIEV, Ukraine, March 5 (UPI) -- Ukrainian utility Naftogaz announced Friday that it settled its February debt to Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Naftogaz said it received confirmation that its February gas payment was received on time, the National News Agency of Ukraine reports.
"The company got a relevant acknowledgment from a correspondent bank," a Naftogaz statement read.
Russian energy giant Gazprom cut natural gas supplies to Ukraine in 2009 because of a bitter row over debts and contracts. The contract settling that dispute obligates Naftogaz to a set volume of gas purchases and establishes the seventh of each month as the payment deadline.
Naftogaz in 2010 is obligated to purchase about 1.2 trillion cubic feet of Russian gas.
The recession in 2009 battered the Ukrainian economy, forcing Kiev to seek help from the International Monetary Fund to meet its obligations. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said in December that the company was "in fact bankrupt."
Oleg Dubina, the chief executive of joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy handed his letter of resignation to the Ukrainian Cabinet this week.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych arrived Friday in Moscow to discuss bilateral gas issues.
