Criticizing Ukraine, Russia says gas should be paid for

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday gas supplies should be paid for and payments should be free of politics in a speech that took aim at Ukraine and its Western backers. At an energy conference, Medvedev said: "We are talking about various crisis situations and I want to mention one very simple, almost banal, thing - it is necessary to pay for delivered energy supplies. "I hope all countries understand this, all consumers like those present and those who are not present for whatever reason at the forum, including Ukraine. Payments in general should not be linked to politics in any way." (reporting by Katya Golubkova, writing by Elizabeth Piper, editing by Jason Bush) nL6N0O12G8