Russia sees a risk to Ukraine gas payments tied to January's presidential election that will determine whether relations improve or deteriorate further, Reuters quoted the head of Russia's Gazprom as saying today. Tensions between Moscow and Kiev over gas payments and storage have subsided in the past two months to the relief of the rest of Europe, which suffered a two-week halt to a fifth of its gas supplies in January after a row between the two. Ukraine is transit route for the bulk of Russia's gas exports. "There is a risk. In mid-January there will be an election and payment for January supplies is due on February 7," Alexei Miller, the head of Russia's gas export monopoly Gazprom, told the Valdai discussion group of Russia experts. "When I meet with colleagues from (Ukraine state energy firm) Naftogaz Ukraine and I ask them what will happen in 2010 they tell me: we simply don't know," Miller added. Kremlin aide Arkady Dvorkovich said Russia wanted political stability in its neighbour, where political paralysis has hammered the currency and raised a threat of default on some debts. "Russia does not need a weak Ukraine. Russia needs a strong Ukraine as a partner. A strong, politically stable Ukraine is better than a weak Ukraine that creates a political and economic crisis for us," he said. "The risks in Ukraine are like those in Russia in the 1990s. They cannot be calculated." Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said last week the country had stored enough gas to ensure smooth supplies to Europe this winter. Tymoshenko, the most popular Ukrainian politician in office, wants to avoid a new gas row with Russia in the run-up to a presidential election on Jan. 17, in which she has said she will run.
