Russia and Ukraine take gas price discussion outdoors.
The discussion primarily focused on natural gas, as Ukraine is making every effort to negotiate cheaper fuel supplies from Russia while being unwilling to agree to Moscow's conditions, such as joining the Customs Union or giving up part of its gas transport assets in a way similar to the Russia-Belarus cooperation arrangements.
President Dmitry Medvedev invited his Ukrainian counterpart to join him in his out of town Zavidovo residence, to help ease the tension of formal meetings. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who had just been nominated the ruling party's presidential hopeful for 2012, joined the two presidents' talks.
Medvedev began with a short conversation with Yanukovich where he shared with his counterpart the morning's news from the United Russia conference. "It's a special day in Russia," he said. "We just held a conference defining the party's approach and that of the most influential politicians' with regard to the upcoming election campaigns." He seemed to believe that the news was important for Ukraine as well as for Russia considering that the two countries are "friends" and therefore "have to meet regularly and make decisions together."
Yanukovych was offered to use the informal atmosphere of the meeting to discuss the most sensitive issues in Russian-Ukrainian relations. "It makes perfect sense to address the most complicated issues now, including energy cooperation and border issues, and to review some items of the plan of action we approved some time ago," Medvedev said.
"I will not deny that there is some concern about our energy issues," Yanukovych said. "But I am confident that, given everything that has transpired in the past one and a half years, we have achieved a great deal: we were able to stabilise economic and trade cooperation and solve many other issues." It was with this objective in mind that the Ukrainian president accepted the invitation to come to Russia on this "symbolic" day for both countries.
Vladimir Putin joined the presidents 20 minutes later into the meeting, flying to Zavidovo by helicopter directly from the United Russia conference. After some more time the trio moved outside. Walking along an alley, they turned toward a pond where fishing equipment had been prepared for them, but they did not appear in the mood for fishing. They weren't tense either, laughing and joking as they stood on a bridge. After their walk, the three officials moved to a light summer pavilion to continue their conversation.
Medvedev's spokesperson Natalia Timakova said that following their talks significant progress on the issue of gas transportation price had been reached during the meeting. "President Dmitry Medvedev and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attending, reached certain agreements during Sunday's talks," she said. "Those agreements were later discussed at a meeting between Alexei Miller and Yury Boiko, who also discussed the issue. After the meeting, Gazprom's chief executive reported to the president that significant progress had been made on the price of gas transportation across Ukraine. This suggests that relevant agreements will be signed to benefit both countries," Timakova added.
Sergei Belov