Ukraine signs deal on Russian gas transit monitoring

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-11 14:14

KIEV -- Ukraine has signed an agreement on the EU-led monitoring of Russian gas transit to Europe, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Sunday.

A stop sign is seen outside the Stirol chemical plant in the town of Gorlovka in the Donetsk region January 9, 2009. [Xinhua]

"We once again have shown our goodwill," she said.

Tymoshenko made the announcement in Kiev after talks with Mirek Topolanek, the prime minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating EU presidency.

Topolenek shuttled between Kiev and Moscow on Saturday to mediate the deal. He finally persuaded Kiev after marathon talks to accept the deal, allowing EU representatives, energy officials from Russia and Ukraine to travel to gas pumping stations on Ukraine's eastern and western borders to track the gas flow.

"Nothing prevents Russia now from resuming gas supplies," Topolanek said after Ukrainian officials endorsed the deal.

"This agreement is very important for us," Topolanek said during the talks with Ukrainian officials. "We can't allow the entire energy system of Europe to collapse."

Ukraine initially rejected the monitoring pact, fearing it would give Russian officials too much access to Ukraine's gas transit system. However, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin insisted that a written deal be signed by the Ukrainian side and monitors be stationed at Ukraine's gas transit pipelines before Russia could resume gas supplies to European countries.

"Once the monitoring mechanism starts working, we will start gas supplies," Putin said after the talks with Topolanek. "But if we see them stealing it again and part of the gas is missing, we will again reduce supplies by that amount."

Russia and the EU, in a step toward resuming Russian gas supplies to Europe, on Saturday signed a protocol to set up an international commission to monitor Russian gas transit via Ukraine.

Under the deal, the international commission will include representatives of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, Ukraine's energy giant Naftogaz, the Russian and Ukrainian energy ministries, the European Commission, European companies receiving Russian gas, and international monitoring organizations.

Russia supplies about one-quarter of the EU's natural gas, and some 80 percent of it is transported through Ukraine. Russia cut off gas supplies to Europe on Wednesday after negotiations with Ukraine over gas prices broke down and it accused Ukraine of siphoning its gas supplies to other European nations.

Ukraine has vehemently denied the charge, saying Russia was trying to discredit Ukraine as a reliable gas transit partner.

The complete cutoff of Russian gas supplies to the EU has left thousands of European families without heating in the depths of winter.

Russia has repeatedly asked Ukraine to pay market prices for its natural gas. "If the price for gas Gazprom supplies to Eastern European states neighboring Ukraine is around 470 U.S. dollars per1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of 2009, then Ukraine should also pay the market price for gas," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said on Friday.

Last year, Russia charged Ukraine 179.50 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, about half what it charged its European clients.