RUSSIA SLAMS UKRAINE'S "HYSTERICAL" BEHAVIOR OVER GAS PRICES. Officials from Russia's state-controlled Gazprom and Ukraine are expected to sign an accord in Moscow on October 9 to settle what Gazprom says are $1.3 billion in outstanding debts, Russian media reported. Gazprom recently threatened to halt gas supplies to Ukraine on November 1 unless the matter is resolved. A Gazprom statement on October 8 said that its CEO Aleksei Miller and Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko agreed on a schedule for paying the debt. Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is scheduled to arrive in Moscow on October 9 for further gas talks with Russian officials. Russia's threat has been widely seen as an attempt to put pressure on Ukraine in the run-up to forming a new government.
The daily "Kommersant" wrote on October 9 that "Ukrainian authorities think that Gazprom is pursuing two goals in its policy toward Ukraine. First, it is trying to weaken Ukraine before beginning negotiations on the price of gas for 2008 and, second, it is trying to obtain a large share of the gas sales market in the country." On October 7, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is also chairman of the board of Gazprom, said of Ukraine that "negotiations regularly set off disputes that we can't understand. Sometimes even hysterics break out," Interfax reported. He stressed that "it's about time our partners got used to the idea that one has to pay for one's gas on time and in accordance with the contracts that have been signed. This problem will be solved when Russia gets the money."
Fonte: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Newsline
