Main navigation

Daily news

Ukraine-Russia gas dispute 'overcome'

21 February 2008

Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has met with her Russian counterpart in Moscow to discuss bilateral ties surrounding the lingering gas dispute between the two ex-Soviet neighbours.

At a press conference, Vladimir Putin and Ms Tymoshenko agreed to honour gas deals brokered earlier this month.

At the presidential residence Novo-Ogaryovo near Moscow, Mr Putin downplayed the prospects of a repeat of the spat between Ukraine and Russia in January 2006, which stopped exports to European Union countries.

"When we started discussing these problems, it turned out that all problems were solvable and we have no deep contradictions virtually over any of them," Mr Putin told Ms Timoshenko.

Russia, the world's number one gas exporter, supplies a quarter of EU gas needs, largely through pipelines which traverse the Ukraine.

Mr Putin and Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko last week reached a deal on the payment of Ukraine's $1.5 billion gas debt to Russia, avoiding a threatened cutoff in gas supplies.

Leaders agreed to set up direct gas sales between Gazprom and Ukraine's state-run Naftogaz, cutting out middleman RosUkrEnergo.

In October 2007, Russia threatened to shut off gas supplies to Ukraine over a $2.2 billion debt.

Find out how the Energy Saving Trust can help you