Yesterday Dmitry Medvedev ordered his old company Gazprom to enforce payment of a gas debt of $2.4 billion from the Ukraine, while Alexei Miller slipped in the announcement that Kiev would have to pay more than $400 per thousand cubic metres for gas next year, more than double the current $179.5.  The following is the transcript from Kremlin.ru:

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Alexey Borisovich, as I understand it, you are now conducting negotiations with our Ukrainian partners to sign contracts for next year. This has to be done. We certainly are already in the run up to the new year.

The situation is a bit complicated. Of course I am referring in particular to current oil prices, the overall financial and economic situation in the world, and its consequences for our country. I wish to draw attention to the fact that our Ukrainian partners owe us a pretty substantial amount of money.