ZURICH, Switzerland -- A little over a month ago, Viktor Yanukovych was inaugurated president of Ukraine following a narrowly fought election, which, according to documents presented by his opponent, then-prime minister Yuliya Tymoshenko to the country’s High Administrative Court, was marked by fraud.
After the Court refused to examine her evidence presented in eight bound volumes of documents and accompanied by videotapes, Yanukovych subsequently forced a vote of confidence on her governing coalition in the Ukrainian Rada (Parliament).
When Tymoshenko lost that vote, Yanukovych then set about building his own parliamentary majority, recently naming a cabinet to govern the country within the 30-day limit prescribed by the Constitution.
Professor of Political Science (Rutgers University-Newark, USA) and expert on Ukrainian affairs Alexander J Motyl remarks to ISN Security Watch that Yanukovych’s tactics in the matter may violate the country’s Constitution, of which Article 83 specifies that only a “coalition of parliamentary f[r]actions” may compose a governing majority (even though individuals may vote against their fraction on various particular pieces of legislation), while according to the parliament’s own rules “for a party to leave a coalition, its Rada fraction must vote to do so.”
Indicating some sympathy for Yanukovych’s “frustration at the need to herd cats,” Motyl nevertheless notes that his coalition of parties, making together only about 220 of the necessary 226, “fell short of the required parliamentary majority.”
Tadeusz Olszanski of the Centre for Eastern Studies in Warsaw explains that by a “legal trick” Yanukovych had the parliament’s rules of procedure amended so as to allow “individual deputies (and not only parliamentary groups) to enter the coalition.”
It will take at least two or three months for the Constitutional Court to issue a verdict in the matter, with uncertain implications for legislation approved in the meantime.
Foreign relations
Rather than note such troublesome details, EU diplomats have preferred to congratulate themselves anonymously in the press on “playing their cards right” on Ukraine.
By this they mean that they avoided a “cooling down of strategic relations,” in part by coordinating messages from the European Commission and the European Parliament, and in particular, giving “no encouragement … to Yanukovich’s rival Yulia Tymoshenko, who had tried to challenge the legality of Yanukovich’s victory.”
It is likely that the European Parliament will play an important role in determining the future course of actual relations between Brussels and Kiev.
Alexander von Lingen, a former principal of the Secretariat of the Presidency of the European Parliament, and current director of the EquipEuropa analysis and training consultancy in Brussels, explains to ISN Security Watch that the European Parliament had already held its first bilateral meeting of the Parliamentary Cooperation Committee with Ukraine under the new government, addressing in the first instance such substantive issues as visa-free travel and other practical matters.
On the international level, Motyl says there could be positive results if Brussels “reinforces the commitment it made at last year’s energy summit to help modernize Ukraine’s gas pipeline, endorses good relations with Russia and Ukraine’s role therein, and gives Ukraine some kind of half-green, half-yellow light regarding eventual [EU] membership.”
The new foreign minister, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, who has held the post in the past and is in Motyl’s words “a serious fellow and really genuine diplomat,” has already asked for precisely this.
Motyl criticizes the EU for having foregone already five years ago the opportunity to play a positive role in Ukraine.
“During the Orange governments of 2005-2006,” he says, “when it would have made an enormous difference, the EU never sent even the slightest half-clear signal to Ukraine about prospects for membership even in the distant future. Had they made even the most modest gesture, it would have given those governments the opportunity to mobilize the Ukrainian public around the EU agenda; but they did absolutely nothing.”
These criticisms are validated by longtime Brussels observer Alexander von Lingen, who agrees with Motyl, pointing out that “enlargement fatigue and Lisbon treaty ratification procedures” probably explain this in part, since the EU at the time had a “preoccupation with its own problems.”
He also remarks that Brussels “lost interest” in Ukraine after the latter, following the former’s wishes, shut down the last reactors at Chernobyl.
International implications of domestic developments
On the domestic side, Olszanski at the Centre for Eastern Studies in Warsaw points to fissures among the parties composing the coalition itself, which is “far from being internally united,” as well as to “friction between representatives of the various influence groups” in Yanukovych’s own Party of Regions.
Concerning relations with the opposition, Motyl says that Yanukovych could have minimized tensions and gotten a prolonged honeymoon and general sympathy with “slightly smarter appointments [but] now he’s headed for disaster [as] certainly half and perhaps more than half of the population has turned against him.”
Von Lingen in the main agrees with them both, concluding that there is “at least confrontation in the future of Ukrainian politics, if not yet certain disaster: for example, when Tymoshenko was pushed out under [former president Viktor] Yushchenko, she waited until she had another opportunity to come back to power; she is a tenacious lady and does not give up so easily.”
Motyl points out a fundamental and very recent shift in Ukrainian popular opinion that has escaped most outside observers. Most people, he says, expected Yanukovych to execute only the principal functions of a government, such as passing a budget, and then call for new parliamentary elections in autumn.
However, “a wholesale and still ongoing seizure of the administrative apparatus” by Yanukovych and the people around him “occurred within no more than a week after the formation of the government, leaving the country in shock,” says Motyl, “from the realization that these people [around Yanukovych] have failed to change [after five years in the political wilderness] and sowing fears that … in the worst case [they may revert] to unsavory aspects of [the regime of Belarusian dictator Aleksandar] Lukashenka.”
One of the first tests of the new government’s competence will be how it handles theIMF mission to Kiev this week, which will discuss reinstating the (suspended) fourth tranche of the bailout program.
This will be an indicator for future relations with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and, still more sensitively, the European Investment Bank. The advisory opinions of the European Parliament will have weight in these later decisions on the European level.
Showing posts with label European union. Show all posts
Showing posts with label European union. Show all posts
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Without Russia, Europe Has No Reliable Source Of Gas
MOSCOW, Russia -- "There has been no change on the gas supply market." In the past few months, this phrase has brought for the EU, Ukraine and Russia more anxiety than calm, because no change means that the question over the supply of Russian natural gas to the EU this coming winter has not been settled
In early July, the EU's Gas Coordination Group met in Brussels to examine the level of preparedness of the EU and the Energy Community (EnCT) to face a possible gas supply disruption in the coming weeks or months. It established that the gas storage situation in Ukraine remained uncertain, and that it was still unclear who would finance Ukraine's acquisition of the required amount of gas.Russia is fed up of lending money to the Yushchenko government, which only pokes insults at Russia, and has proposed that the EU provide several billion dollars to the "democratic" Ukrainian government.Unwilling to part with such a large sum, Europe asked if Ukraine could save itself, or if half of the required sum would suffice.Kiev and Moscow argue that democracies in a market economy cannot be saved without investment. To paraphrase Vladimir Lenin, any democracy is worth something only if someone can pay for it. In the case of Ukraine, it could be a permanent EU agency such as the European Commission. Its president, Jose Manuel Barroso, has been conducting endless meetings on the issue with his colleagues and pondering over the problem alone, but has so far not approved the allocation of funds to Ukraine.Mr. Barroso is acting unwisely from the viewpoint of European values and ideology. Why not give money to the young Ukrainian democracy, which has been calling, in unison with some East European EU members, for the need to fight "Russian imperialism"?However, one can also understand the European Commission president's stance, as such allocations may never be recouped. If West European companies pay in advance for the gas that Russia has not yet supplied to Ukraine, who can guarantee that they will receive the contracted gas?European companies, which have had negative experience of dealing with Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, refuse to believe the two again.The Ukrainian president and prime minister, the current darlings of the European public, have promised to transit the Russian gas. But they may quarrel again, with Yushchenko again sanctioning searches in the office of Ukraine's national oil and gas firm Naftogaz, as he did last spring, or even halting Russian gas and thereby stopping its transit to Europe.In this situation, the European Commission has reminded the EU countries of "the need to fill storage units and seek further regional arrangements before any possible new disruption occurs." As of late June, EU storage units contained 4.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas less than in June 2008, according to Swiss investment bank UBS.Kiev paid for Russian gas supplies in May and June at the last possible moment. Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said that Ukraine planned to dramatically increase gas purchases in July.Ukraine, which consumed 33 million cu m (mcm) of gas per day in mid-June, has contracted 120 mcm for July.Does it have enough money to pay for the contracted amount? Ukraine "scraped and scratched" to pay $300 million for gas in June, but Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has recently said that her government was planning to increase the authorized capital of Naftogaz to $2.45 billion.Ms. Tymoshenko has also said in an interview that Ukraine needs $4.2 billion to buy the required 16 bcm of gas for the country's underground storage facilities, while President Yushchenko said $1.6-$2 billion would suffice.Which of them is lying?The European Commission is keeping silent, but Russian sources in Brussels say that even the most tolerant Eurocrats are losing patience with the Ukrainian leaders.A solution was proposed to the European Commission five years ago. According to it, the EU, Russia and Ukraine should set up a consortium to ensure the transit of Russian natural gas across Ukraine. Unveiled in 2002, the idea of the consortium was an unwanted child for the EU, because it does not conform to its ideology. How can Europe work with Russia and not against it, helping the "new imperialist," which is seeking to restore its former influence in the ex-Soviet countries, in a joint project?As a result, the consortium kicked the bucket.Making another go at this policy, the EU signed a separate agreement with Ukraine last spring to modernize its gas transportation system. But its enthusiasm waned when the question of paying for the project was raised.Maybe it is considering cooperation with the "gas imperialist" ahead of the winter colds?
In early July, the EU's Gas Coordination Group met in Brussels to examine the level of preparedness of the EU and the Energy Community (EnCT) to face a possible gas supply disruption in the coming weeks or months. It established that the gas storage situation in Ukraine remained uncertain, and that it was still unclear who would finance Ukraine's acquisition of the required amount of gas.Russia is fed up of lending money to the Yushchenko government, which only pokes insults at Russia, and has proposed that the EU provide several billion dollars to the "democratic" Ukrainian government.Unwilling to part with such a large sum, Europe asked if Ukraine could save itself, or if half of the required sum would suffice.Kiev and Moscow argue that democracies in a market economy cannot be saved without investment. To paraphrase Vladimir Lenin, any democracy is worth something only if someone can pay for it. In the case of Ukraine, it could be a permanent EU agency such as the European Commission. Its president, Jose Manuel Barroso, has been conducting endless meetings on the issue with his colleagues and pondering over the problem alone, but has so far not approved the allocation of funds to Ukraine.Mr. Barroso is acting unwisely from the viewpoint of European values and ideology. Why not give money to the young Ukrainian democracy, which has been calling, in unison with some East European EU members, for the need to fight "Russian imperialism"?However, one can also understand the European Commission president's stance, as such allocations may never be recouped. If West European companies pay in advance for the gas that Russia has not yet supplied to Ukraine, who can guarantee that they will receive the contracted gas?European companies, which have had negative experience of dealing with Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, refuse to believe the two again.The Ukrainian president and prime minister, the current darlings of the European public, have promised to transit the Russian gas. But they may quarrel again, with Yushchenko again sanctioning searches in the office of Ukraine's national oil and gas firm Naftogaz, as he did last spring, or even halting Russian gas and thereby stopping its transit to Europe.In this situation, the European Commission has reminded the EU countries of "the need to fill storage units and seek further regional arrangements before any possible new disruption occurs." As of late June, EU storage units contained 4.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas less than in June 2008, according to Swiss investment bank UBS.Kiev paid for Russian gas supplies in May and June at the last possible moment. Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said that Ukraine planned to dramatically increase gas purchases in July.Ukraine, which consumed 33 million cu m (mcm) of gas per day in mid-June, has contracted 120 mcm for July.Does it have enough money to pay for the contracted amount? Ukraine "scraped and scratched" to pay $300 million for gas in June, but Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has recently said that her government was planning to increase the authorized capital of Naftogaz to $2.45 billion.Ms. Tymoshenko has also said in an interview that Ukraine needs $4.2 billion to buy the required 16 bcm of gas for the country's underground storage facilities, while President Yushchenko said $1.6-$2 billion would suffice.Which of them is lying?The European Commission is keeping silent, but Russian sources in Brussels say that even the most tolerant Eurocrats are losing patience with the Ukrainian leaders.A solution was proposed to the European Commission five years ago. According to it, the EU, Russia and Ukraine should set up a consortium to ensure the transit of Russian natural gas across Ukraine. Unveiled in 2002, the idea of the consortium was an unwanted child for the EU, because it does not conform to its ideology. How can Europe work with Russia and not against it, helping the "new imperialist," which is seeking to restore its former influence in the ex-Soviet countries, in a joint project?As a result, the consortium kicked the bucket.Making another go at this policy, the EU signed a separate agreement with Ukraine last spring to modernize its gas transportation system. But its enthusiasm waned when the question of paying for the project was raised.Maybe it is considering cooperation with the "gas imperialist" ahead of the winter colds?
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Putin: Ukraine Is Holding Consumers Hostage
HILVERSUM, Holland -- The Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has severely criticised Ukraine's position in the conflict over gas between the two countries.
Putin says, Ukraine is holding European consumers hostage by refusing to allow gas through and is abusing its position as transit country. Putin has called on the EU to take steps against Ukraine.Kiev has in turn blamed Moscow for the lack of gas getting to eastern Europe.It says Russia is supplying the gas via the wrong pipelines, making it impossible for Ukraine to transport.The European Commission meanwhile has had enough of the gas row between the two countries.President of the EC Jose Manuel Barroso is advising companies affected by the conflict to take legal action.
Putin says, Ukraine is holding European consumers hostage by refusing to allow gas through and is abusing its position as transit country. Putin has called on the EU to take steps against Ukraine.Kiev has in turn blamed Moscow for the lack of gas getting to eastern Europe.It says Russia is supplying the gas via the wrong pipelines, making it impossible for Ukraine to transport.The European Commission meanwhile has had enough of the gas row between the two countries.President of the EC Jose Manuel Barroso is advising companies affected by the conflict to take legal action.
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Snag hits Russia-Ukraine gas dea
Russian energy giant Gazprom says a deal to re-start gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine will be delayed as it has not received a copy of the agreement.
Kiev and Moscow signed the EU-brokered deal on Saturday. The new snag comes as EU observers arrived at gas pumping stations in Ukraine to monitor flow.
Hundreds of thousands of people across Europe are without heating in the region's worst energy crisis in years.
The underlying issue over pricing that provoked the dispute is unresolved.
The weekend agreement followed days of intensive EU-led shuttle diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine.
Moscow said that once the EU monitors were in place, it would turn the taps back on, bringing the crisis to an end.
However, by late on Sunday, Gazprom said it had still not received a copy of the monitoring agreement "through official channels".
"This is delaying our work and the start of monitors' work at the facilities," said Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov.
Once gas starts to flow, it will still take at least 36 hours for it to reach hundreds of thousands of consumers in countries like Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia, in the grip of severe winter weather.
The EU gets a quarter of its gas supplies from Russia, 80% of which passes through Ukraine.
The EU observers will be monitoring the amount of gas flowing into Ukraine from Russia to the east, and matching it with the amount going out again, to other European countries to the west.
That, all sides agree, should provide an answer to the hotly contested question of whether or not Ukraine was stealing gas destined for European consumers, says the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Kiev.
The price Ukraine should pay Russia for its gas in the coming year, and how much Russia should pay Ukraine in return for transporting gas to Europe has yet to be agreed.
Russia cut supplies to the Ukraine on New Year's Day.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has vowed to "try to continue negotiations with Russia through all possible channels" on a new gas contract.
Kiev and Moscow signed the EU-brokered deal on Saturday. The new snag comes as EU observers arrived at gas pumping stations in Ukraine to monitor flow.
Hundreds of thousands of people across Europe are without heating in the region's worst energy crisis in years.
The underlying issue over pricing that provoked the dispute is unresolved.
The weekend agreement followed days of intensive EU-led shuttle diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine.
Moscow said that once the EU monitors were in place, it would turn the taps back on, bringing the crisis to an end.
However, by late on Sunday, Gazprom said it had still not received a copy of the monitoring agreement "through official channels".
"This is delaying our work and the start of monitors' work at the facilities," said Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov.
Once gas starts to flow, it will still take at least 36 hours for it to reach hundreds of thousands of consumers in countries like Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia, in the grip of severe winter weather.
The EU gets a quarter of its gas supplies from Russia, 80% of which passes through Ukraine.
The EU observers will be monitoring the amount of gas flowing into Ukraine from Russia to the east, and matching it with the amount going out again, to other European countries to the west.
That, all sides agree, should provide an answer to the hotly contested question of whether or not Ukraine was stealing gas destined for European consumers, says the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Kiev.
The price Ukraine should pay Russia for its gas in the coming year, and how much Russia should pay Ukraine in return for transporting gas to Europe has yet to be agreed.
Russia cut supplies to the Ukraine on New Year's Day.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has vowed to "try to continue negotiations with Russia through all possible channels" on a new gas contract.
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Gas Chiefs For Ukraine, Russia Hold Urgent Talks
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The natural gas chiefs for Russia and Ukraine met twice in the last 24 hours Thursday to try to resolve a bitter dispute that halted energy supplies to Europe, while outrage swelled across the continent as factories closed, schools shut down and hundreds of thousands faced winter without heat.
The meetings between Gazprom's Alexei Miller and Naftogaz's Oleh Dubina were their first since negotiations broke down on New Year's Eve over natural gas prices for 2009 and Ukraine's energy debt.Natural gas supplies from Russia through Ukraine to Europe remained cut off for a second day, leaving more than a dozen countries scrambling to secure alternative energy sources."The heads of Naftogaz and Gazprom are talking now" in Brussels, said Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, the head of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee. The two chiefs also held a surprise meeting in Moscow early Thursday, but no breakthrough was announced.Gazprom stopped all gas shipments to Ukraine on Jan. 1 but kept supplies flowing to Europe through Ukraine's pipelines until Wednesday, when all deliveries stopped.EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has pressed both nations' prime ministers for a quick resolution to the standoff."If this matter is not solved, it will raise very serious doubts about the reliability of Russia as a supplier of gas to Europe and Ukraine as a transit country," he said.Europe depends on Russia for one-quarter of its natural gas, and about 80 percent of that is shipped through pipelines crossing Ukraine. Other smaller pipelines run through Belarus and Turkey.Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey all reported a halt in Russian gas shipments by Wednesday. Germany and Poland reported substantial drops in supplies.Barroso said Ukraine and Russia both agreed to accept international monitors that could verify the flow of gas. Russia has accused Ukraine of siphoning off gas meant for European customers, while Ukraine claims Russia is not sending enough gas to pump the rest of it west to Europe.Ukrainian officials at the European Parliament claimed the higher prices being demanded by Russia were an attempt to cripple Naftogaz and the Ukrainian economy during the global financial crisis. But Naftogaz' Dubina was calmer, saying the dispute was commercial."I see no hidden politics. I can see purely economic differences between Gazprom and Naftogaz," he said in Brussels.Dubina said Naftogaz would need around 36 hours to restore supplies and was ready to start transporting gas immediately if the two companies set a 10-day deadline to thrash out their problems.The first gas supplies would be piped to Bulgaria, he said, where shortages have shuttered major factories and left cities shivering.Angry Bulgarians protested in front of the Ukrainian embassy in Sofia on Thursday, holding signs reading "We are not hostages" and accusing Russia and Ukraine of being "gas terrorists."Orthodox priests fired up wood-burning stoves in Bulgaria to keep their churches warm, while residents of the capital blew on their hands as they rode unheated trams.Hungary, also facing shortages that closed major factories, said it will sell up to 2 million cubic meters of natural gas Thursday to Serbia, where the situation is even worse.In Bosnia, which does not have any gas reserves, woodcutters braved below-freezing temperatures as people turned to their fireplaces or stoves for heat.Russia is demanding that Ukraine pay significantly more for its gas. Last year, Russia charged Ukraine $179.50 per 1,000 cubic meters, about half what it charged its European customers.Russia's last offer before talks broke down was $250, but President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow will now insist that Kiev pay European prices "without a discount."Naftogaz deputy chief Volodymyr Trikolich said Thursday his company continues to insist on a price of $201 per 1,000 cubic meters and wants to raise the transit fee Russia pays to use Ukraine's pipelines from $1.70 to $2 per 100 kilometers.Medvedev also demanded full payment of Ukraine's $600 million alleged debt to Gazprom, which Ukraine has said it will not pay until the issue is settled in arbitration courts.Czech Deputy Foreign Minister Alexandr Vondra, whose country holds the EU presidency, ruled out the possibility of EU countries paying any of Ukraine's debt."I don't think that is what we need to do," Vondra told reporters in Thursday in Prague.Ukraine, which has a vast underground storage system full of natural gas, says it can weather the dispute until early April. But Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, was experiencing heating problems Thursday, with residents forced to bundle in winter clothes and turn on electric heaters to keep warm.Gazprom, meanwhile, is losing substantial income during a peak season for gas consumption and during a global economic crisis in which its share price has plummeted.
The meetings between Gazprom's Alexei Miller and Naftogaz's Oleh Dubina were their first since negotiations broke down on New Year's Eve over natural gas prices for 2009 and Ukraine's energy debt.Natural gas supplies from Russia through Ukraine to Europe remained cut off for a second day, leaving more than a dozen countries scrambling to secure alternative energy sources."The heads of Naftogaz and Gazprom are talking now" in Brussels, said Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, the head of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee. The two chiefs also held a surprise meeting in Moscow early Thursday, but no breakthrough was announced.Gazprom stopped all gas shipments to Ukraine on Jan. 1 but kept supplies flowing to Europe through Ukraine's pipelines until Wednesday, when all deliveries stopped.EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has pressed both nations' prime ministers for a quick resolution to the standoff."If this matter is not solved, it will raise very serious doubts about the reliability of Russia as a supplier of gas to Europe and Ukraine as a transit country," he said.Europe depends on Russia for one-quarter of its natural gas, and about 80 percent of that is shipped through pipelines crossing Ukraine. Other smaller pipelines run through Belarus and Turkey.Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey all reported a halt in Russian gas shipments by Wednesday. Germany and Poland reported substantial drops in supplies.Barroso said Ukraine and Russia both agreed to accept international monitors that could verify the flow of gas. Russia has accused Ukraine of siphoning off gas meant for European customers, while Ukraine claims Russia is not sending enough gas to pump the rest of it west to Europe.Ukrainian officials at the European Parliament claimed the higher prices being demanded by Russia were an attempt to cripple Naftogaz and the Ukrainian economy during the global financial crisis. But Naftogaz' Dubina was calmer, saying the dispute was commercial."I see no hidden politics. I can see purely economic differences between Gazprom and Naftogaz," he said in Brussels.Dubina said Naftogaz would need around 36 hours to restore supplies and was ready to start transporting gas immediately if the two companies set a 10-day deadline to thrash out their problems.The first gas supplies would be piped to Bulgaria, he said, where shortages have shuttered major factories and left cities shivering.Angry Bulgarians protested in front of the Ukrainian embassy in Sofia on Thursday, holding signs reading "We are not hostages" and accusing Russia and Ukraine of being "gas terrorists."Orthodox priests fired up wood-burning stoves in Bulgaria to keep their churches warm, while residents of the capital blew on their hands as they rode unheated trams.Hungary, also facing shortages that closed major factories, said it will sell up to 2 million cubic meters of natural gas Thursday to Serbia, where the situation is even worse.In Bosnia, which does not have any gas reserves, woodcutters braved below-freezing temperatures as people turned to their fireplaces or stoves for heat.Russia is demanding that Ukraine pay significantly more for its gas. Last year, Russia charged Ukraine $179.50 per 1,000 cubic meters, about half what it charged its European customers.Russia's last offer before talks broke down was $250, but President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow will now insist that Kiev pay European prices "without a discount."Naftogaz deputy chief Volodymyr Trikolich said Thursday his company continues to insist on a price of $201 per 1,000 cubic meters and wants to raise the transit fee Russia pays to use Ukraine's pipelines from $1.70 to $2 per 100 kilometers.Medvedev also demanded full payment of Ukraine's $600 million alleged debt to Gazprom, which Ukraine has said it will not pay until the issue is settled in arbitration courts.Czech Deputy Foreign Minister Alexandr Vondra, whose country holds the EU presidency, ruled out the possibility of EU countries paying any of Ukraine's debt."I don't think that is what we need to do," Vondra told reporters in Thursday in Prague.Ukraine, which has a vast underground storage system full of natural gas, says it can weather the dispute until early April. But Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, was experiencing heating problems Thursday, with residents forced to bundle in winter clothes and turn on electric heaters to keep warm.Gazprom, meanwhile, is losing substantial income during a peak season for gas consumption and during a global economic crisis in which its share price has plummeted.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)