US asks Russia to rejoin natural gas negotiations

The US called on Russia Monday to rejoin the negotiation process on natural gas after Moscow decided to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine.
State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters, "We call on Russia to rejoin the negotiations with Ukraine on natural gas supplies, which has been hosted by the EU." Russia's state owned gas company Gazprom's decision came after serving Ukraine with a multi-billion dollar bill and demanded prepaid payments before receiving future supplies.
Psaki continued, "The European Commission is working with both parties to broker a commercially competitive compromise that addresses a market price and payment -- and payments." The US believes the EU, "has put forward a fair and a reasonable compromise that Ukraine has accepted, and we urge Russia to re-engage on this basis."