Vedomosti: "Gas stands still"
Conflict
Europe girds itself for a court battle
Gas transit via Ukraine did not resume yesterday; mutual recriminations between Russia and Ukraine continue. The parties to the conflict are preparing to go to court while anti-Ukrainian sentiments are mounting among the victims.
THE BORDER BLOCKAGE
Russia "fed a small amount of gas" through one of its pipelines to Ukraine yesterday morning, "then pressure dropped and nothing more happened". Thus the representative of the European Commission, Ferran Tarradellas, summed up the results of yesterday. Naftogaz took no technical steps to resume transit, company representative Valentin Zemlyansky added, "We are in active correspondence with Gazprom, while they slam us in the media".
Russia and Ukraine are no closer to a compromise. Ukraine still rejects Gazprom's offer of deliveries through the Sudzha station to the Balkans: this way Naftogaz would have to "freeze Eastern Ukraine" in order to resume transit, says the Ukrainian President's gas advisor Bohdan Sokolovsky. He says that gas should flow along the same routes and in the same amounts as in December 2008, while Russia's actual aim is to gain control over the Ukrainian pipelines. Gazprom insists on the Sudzha route because it makes it possible to deliver 2.5 times more gas to Ukraine's gas transportation system at this entrance point than all the other export transportation systems combined. Furthermore, it is the shortest route, Gazprom's press service reports.
Another outstanding problem is where to get technical gas to ensure the work of the Ukrainian gas transportation system. A Naftogaz letter to Gazprom published yesterday asked for urgent supplies of technical gas to Ukraine (321 million cubic metres in January and 600 million cubic metres each in February and March) before signing a contract on its delivery that would envisage an option of returning the gas. Gazprom President Alexei Miller responded by saying that "the Ukrainians are demanding a gift of $700 million".
ANTI-UKRAINIAN FRONT
President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday met representatives from the victimized countries - the Prime Ministers of Slovakia, Moldova, and Bulgaria were in Moscow yesterday. Mr Putin showed them a letter from Naftogaz to Gazprom, which, he says, confirmed that Gazprom was supplying gas to Sudzha unilaterally. This letter proves that Ukraine has not yet started pumping the gas, Mr Putin said. The Europeans seemed to side with Russia. "I told [Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia] Tymoshenko that Ukraine was losing the confidence of its European partners due its behaviour," said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, adding, however, that he was not looking for scapegoats.
"The problem is connected with transit through Ukrainian territory, and we hope that Ukraine will allow it," Tomas Bartovski, a representative from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, which holds the presidency of the EU, told Vedomosti yesterday. Europe is beginning to shift its position, a Kremlin official says, rubbing his hands. The Romanian President has already criticized Ukraine; the members of yesterday's meeting made balanced public statements, but condemn Kiev behind closed doors. (However, Vedomosti could not confirm or deny this).
President Medvedev plans to hold a meeting in Moscow with the leaders of all the countries that consume and export gas, including Ukraine, though a Kremlin spokesman noted that invitations to the meeting, tentatively scheduled for January 17, had not yet been sent. Before the meeting is held, Ukraine may have to reject another amicable offer. Mr Fico proposed using the method of replacement: Russia would supply gas to Eastern Ukraine while Ukraine would supply an equivalent amount of gas from its Western underground gas storage facilities. Mr Medvedev agreed that Russia could compensate Ukraine for the gas it delivers from its storage reservoirs. However, Naftogaz will be unable to implement that scheme for technical reasons, as the Ukrainian gas transportation system operates in the reverse mode, Mr Sokolovsky says.
A rush to the courts
Whatever the parties to the conflicts may say, they are all girding themselves for court battles. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso announced yesterday that he would recommend the European companies to sue Gazprom and Naftogaz. Disputes would be resolved proceeding from the terms of individual contracts between Gazprom and the buyers of its gas and from their definition of force majeure, thinks Konstantin Luzinyan-Rizhinashvili, a partner with the law firm DLA Piper, which advises Gazprom. The Russian representative at the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, believes that the Europeans have every reason to sue Naftogaz of Ukraine. Russia is also preparing to file law suits: Vice Premier Igor Sechin has said that Gazprom has already lost $1.2 billion due to Ukrainian actions and planned to sue Naftogaz in the Stockholm Arbitration Court. "Gazprom has the right to do it, but we may file a countersuit," a Naftogaz representative says.
Contributors to this article include Maria Tsvetkova, Maxim Glikin, Irina Malkova
Vasily Kashin; Yelena Mazneva
