As of April 1st, Ukraine is to pay contractual price for buying natural gas from Russia as the discount that Moscow had given to Kiev in Q1 has expired, Russian Energy Minister, Alexander Novak, said, informed Xinhua News.

The Russian government had approved the discount on Russian gas of $24.60 per 1,000cm on the contract price of $252 for Q4 of 2015, which means Ukraine could have bought the gas at $227.40. The discount was reduced to $17.77 for Q1 of 2016, which with a contract price of about $230 resulted in a final price of $212.23. However, Ukraine believed the price was too high, Russian Beyond the Headlines reported. Nonetheless, in 2015, Ukraine halved the purchase of Russian gas due to strained revenue.