Ukraine's former PM Tymoshenko denounces gas deal with Russia .......................
KIEV - A deal ending Ukraine's 'gas war' with Russia was denounced by influential ex-prime minister and 'orange revolution' leader Yulia Tymoshenko as well as supporters of the previous pro-Moscow leadership intent on pressing their case ahead of parliamentary polls.
'It is necessary to immediately annul all the accords that have been signed' under Wednesday's agreement, Tymoshenko was quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency as saying.
The complex agreement stipulates that Kiev this year will pay 95 usd per 1,000 cubic metres, nearly double the price it paid last year.
The accord came after Russian group Gazprom cut supplies to Ukraine on Sunday, leading to a drop in supplies to some European countries and raising fears about European dependence on Russia.
Although it is a substantial hike, the 95-dollar price-tag is less than the 230 usd per 1,000 cubic metres that Gazprom has insisted on receiving because large quantities of much cheaper gas from ex-Soviet Central Asia will be supplied alongside the Russian gas.
Tymoshenko, who resigned as President Viktor Yushchenko's prime minister last year amid a bitter privatisation row, called for top energy officials to be investigated for betraying the national interest and abuse of power.
She took aim at a joint venture, RosUkrEnergo, that will handle all the gas imports to Ukraine under the new deal.
'For many years to come there will be an agreement with a big, completely corrupted structure, RosUkrEnergo, that will in fact become, after all these scandals, the only structure for delivering gas to Ukraine,' she said.
Tymoshenko's comments follow a denunciation from another wing of Ukrainian politics, the Ne Tak! coalition that draws its support from the pro-Moscow forces that controlled Ukraine before the 2004 popular uprising known as the 'orange revolution'.
The discontent looks likely to heighten tensions ahead of a March 26 parliamentary election at which the pro-Western course set by Yushchenko could be at stake. |
