Energy-supply crisis: who's to blame?
Sir, Bronwen Maddox's assessment of the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine (World briefing, Jan 8) fails to reflect the reality of the situation. This is not a crisis of Mr Putin's making. It is the result of Ukraine's flagrant violation of its commercial and legal obligations as a transit country, set out in the bilateral agreement between Russia and Ukraine, and as stipulated in Article 7 of the European Energy Charter.
Gazprom has done everything possible to avoid the current situation. Far from presenting Ukraine with a "hugely expensive bill" it made unprecedented concessions to Naftogaz Ukraine, offering to set the gas price for Ukraine this year at $250 per 1,000 cubic metres - almost half the prevailing price in Europe this month. Unfortunately, Ukraine unilaterally walked away from the negotiations.
Over the past 50 years Russia has been a consistent and reliable supplier of energy to Europe. That record is now held hostage by Ukraine's illegal actions. We urge our European partners to tell Ukraine to urgently allow Russian gas to be pumped through Ukraine pipes so as to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe.
Dmitry Peskov
Press Secretary to the Prime Minister's Office, Russian Federation