Energy Headlines

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko met on February 12 in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as part of the interstate Yushchenko-Putin commission, Ukrainian and international media reported. Before the start of the talks, Putin said that "despite the domestic political processes in Ukraine...nothing is obstructing the [growth] of trade," between Russia and Ukraine. Putin added that "there are issues that require special attention" in mutual relations, such as cooperation in the aerospace sector. Yushchenko admitted that "there are issues that we have to discuss separately." "They might be very sensitive," he added, but that "our starting point is that Russia was, is, and will be our strategic partner" and in the context of this assumption Ukraine intends to develop its cooperation with Russia. After a three-hour, one-to-one conversation on February 12, Presidents Yushchenko and Putin announced that they reached agreement in the ongoing gas dispute between Kyiv and Moscow. The Russian natural-gas monopoly Gazprom recently threatened to cut off supplies to Ukraine unless it pays $1.5 billion owed for gas already delivered and signs agreements on further supplies. "We have heard today from our [Ukrainian] partners that the paying off of the debt will begin soon, and we have agreed on the principles of cooperation in 2008 and the coming years," Putin told a press conference. "The proposals made by the Ukrainian partners suit [Gazprom]. We hope that all the agreements will be implemented," he added. Yushchenko said that starting on February 14, Ukraine will begin paying off the debt incurred in November and December 2007. He also said that "the base price of $179 [per 1,000 cubic meters of gas] will be preserved" in 2008. The same day, Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller announced that Naftohaz Ukrayiny, Ukraine's state-owned gas operator, and Gazprom agreed to set up a new company that will supply Russian gas to Ukraine. Miller's announcement apparently means the end of RosUkrEnergo, the Swiss-registered joint venture that since January 2005 was the exclusive deliverer of Russian gas to the Russian-Ukrainian border. At the border, the gas was purchased by the Ukrainian-registered joint venture UkrGazEnergo, which supplied it to Ukrainian consumers. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko called for an end to the use of the two middleman companies (see "RFE/RL Newsline," February 4 and 8, 2008). AM

Source: RADIO FREE EUROPE