is a topic I know pretty well, and well enough never to rely on only one story to follow. Simply put, Ukraine does not pay for Gazprom gas (traded for export transit rights), but consumers do pay for that gas, as well as that supposedly procured from Turmenistan, but delivered via Russia, i.e. by Gazprom. The only question is - which Ukrainian oligarch delivers the gas payments and shares the loot wiyh the Gazprom managers (note - not Gazprom) which control gas transit inside Russia. There are two treasures to share, for Gazprom gas and for "Turkmen" gas, worth at least 1.5 billion dollars per year, so lots of people trying to get a piece of these pies...

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes