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No supply deal at Kremlin gas conference
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 17 - 01 - 2009


A Kremlin conference on the gas crisis
gripping Europe failed on Saturday to produce an agreement
to restore supplies of Russian natural gas via Ukraine, according to AP.
After meeting with European and Ukrainian officials,
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart would continue
bilateral talks late Saturday in an effort to end the
dispute that has blocked shipments across Ukraine. He said
he hoped that gas will begin flowing again within days.
«I'm certain that we will resolve the transit problem in
the nearest future,» Medvedev told a news conference after
the meeting. He said the meeting had been «useful.»
The gas cutoff has left homes in Europe without heat and
forced factories to shut or slow production. Ukraine's
pipeline network normally carries about 80 percent of the
Russian gas that goes to Europe _ about one-fifth of the
gas Europe uses.
The EU has threatened to review its relations with both
Russia and Ukraine if the dispute is not resolved this
weekend.
«What matters are results, and the results as of this
evening were not satisfactory, because there was not an
agreement,» EU spokesman Ferran Tarradellas said. «We
need an agreement.»
He said the EU delegation was «encouraged by the
discussions» because Russia and Ukraine were seeking
solutions rather than just blaming each other.
The Kremlin had billed the meeting as a summit, but no EU
head of state attended. The 27-nation bloc was represented
by its Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and Czech Energy
Minister Martin Riman, whose country holds the rotating EU
presidency.
«Talks between Russia and Ukraine are to go on tonight.
We expect them to lead to a resumption of gas deliveries,»
Riman said.
Before flying to Moscow for the talks, Ukrainian Prime
Minister Yulia Tymoshenko acknowledged that her country's
image had been damaged by the dispute. But she said
reaching a deal would be extremely difficult.
Putin, in Germany early Saturday, reiterated accusations
that Ukraine has stolen gas and is trying to use its
control over pipelines to «blackmail» Russia into selling
Ukraine gas at an unreasonably low price.
Putin has promoted a possible stopgap solution, enlisting
European gas companies for a consortium that would pay for
«technical gas» needed to get Ukraine's pipeline up and
running and ensure deliveries.
Medvedev said that proposal was still on the table, but it
was unclear whether Ukraine would agree. An aide to
Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko, who refused to come
to Russia for the conference, earlier this week dismissed
the idea as a Kremlin attempt to acquire control of
Ukraine's pipeline network.
Another possibility, Medvedev said, would be a credit in a
European bank that would be used to ensure Russia is paid.
Russia stopped shipping gas to Ukraine for domestic use on
Jan. 1 when the countries could not agree on a price. It
then accused Ukraine of siphoning off gas bound for Europe
and turned off the taps entirely on Jan. 7.
Russia resumed piping a limited amount of gas toward
Ukraine on Tuesday after both agreed to have EU monitors
check flows, but the gas did not reach Europe. Russia says
Ukraine is blocking shipments to European consumers, while
Kiev says Russia wants to send gas along a route that would
disrupt supplies to Ukrainian consumers.
A geopolitical struggle over Ukraine's future underlies
the commercial dispute.
Russia and Ukraine have been at odds since the 2004 Orange
Revolution brought President Viktor Yushchenko to power.
His avid push for Ukraine to join NATO and the European
Union has angered Moscow.


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