Kleptocracy in Ukraine

Ukraine is run by deadbeats and thieves.  And as long as they can keep playing the EU against Russia, the situation will continue.  Nobody has the heart to shut off the gas and let Ukrainian babushkas freeze to death.

"Starting with gas and including most other commodities, Ukraine has become a pyramid of debt for stolen goods. Lend or pay any amount of cash into the system, and it will disappear immediately, converted into real goods consumed with the intention not to pay for them, leaving nothing but growing debts behind.
When Yanukovich, Putin and their subordinates agreed in December on a Russian programme of rescue measures, $15 billion was promised to refinance Ukraine’s treasury and foreign debts, partly to repay $2.7 billion in debt already owing for deliveries of Gazprom gas last year; and partly to enable Gazprom to continue delivering gas this year at a higher volume than 2013, and at a newly negotiated 36% discount in price.
But it’s now clear the first instalment of $3 billion in Russian bailout financing has gone – Ukraine still isn’t repaying the old Gazprom debt, and Naftogaz cannot afford to pay for current deliveries. Where did the money go? Putin is asking publicly – there’s not a Russian, nor Ukrainian, who doubts the answer.
According to Russian calculations, during the month of January Gazprom delivered 2.5 billion cubic metres of new gas for an invoice value of $658 million. At the start of the new month, however, Naftogaz was owed $3.4 billion by the country’s municipal and regional administrations. How much more is owed to Naftogaz by the Ukraine’s commercial enterprises hasn’t been counted. If the defaulters were paying up, Naftogaz would be able to repay Gazprom as promised, and start meeting its new delivery invoices. But the defaulters won’t, so Naftogaz can’t.
In order for Naftogaz to continue supplying local consumers with gas at a tariff which has been fixed below its supply cost, the state budget must meet its promised subsidy for Naftogaz. But it too cannot pay. There is simply no free cash left in the Ukrainian government."
http://johnhelmer.net/?p=10168