Ukraine's Leader Points Out Drawback in Deal With Gazprom

City of Kiez

KIEV, March 14 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's president criticized on Friday a new natural gas deal with Russia, saying it gave Russian state gas giant Gazprom too high a quota for direct gas sales in Ukraine, his spokeswoman said.

At a meeting with his prime minister and the head of state oil and gas company Naftogaz, President Viktor Yushchenko said that although he broadly supported the deal, it had altered a key instruction he earlier issued.

The agreement guarantees Gazprom minimum annual gas sales in Ukraine of 7.5 billion cubic meters, rather than setting this figure as an upper limit, as Yushchenko had ordered, press secretary Irina Vannikova said.

"This detail needs to be clarified," she said.

Premier Yulia Tymoshenko and Naftogaz CEO Oleh Dubyna met with the president to discuss details of the agreement reached on Thursday between Gazprom and Naftogaz to end their long-running gas dispute.

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Hopefully this agreement will mend the relationship between Russia and Ukraine. If they can not decide on an agreement, then this could lead to more gas disputes throughout Europe, which could then lead to gas shortages and higher prices.

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Gazprom Restores Ukraine Gas Flow

Russian energy giant Gazprom has agreed to restore full gas supplies to Ukraine, ending a three-day crisis.

Gazprom had cut supplies to Ukraine by half this week, in a dispute over Ukraine's debts to Gazprom (£770m) and a new contract.

The dispute raised concern that gas supplies to Europe would be hit as much of its supply passes through Ukraine.

But Naftogaz said that supplies to Europe had not been interrupted by its disagreement with Gazprom.


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This is important because it shows that Russia has the power to control gas flowing to almost all of Europe since the gas from Russia flows through Ukraine. In the past when Russia has had disagreements with Ukraine, it has cut off the gas lines or slowed the amount running through the pipes, which has impacted all of Europe. Russia has the ability to control the amount of gas and gas exports going through Western Europe in the event of an international dispute.

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Ukraine Stops The Gas Flow

KIEV (Thomson Financial) - A top Ukrainian official on Friday rejected one of the terms of a gas deal this month with Russia requiring the creation of a joint venture to distribute Russian gas in Ukraine, news agencies reported.

"We think there is no need to form a joint venture to work on the internal market," Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Turchinov was quoted as saying by Interfax and RIA Novosti.

He said Ukrainian company Naftogaz was capable of working alone on the domestic market without needing to hook up with Russia's Gazprom.

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Ukrainian officals have put a stopp to Russia's gas deal. The Ukrain believes that they can accomplish the needed results by themeselves. This will make Russia very melancholy becasue they will loose money in this deal gone wrong. The aricle providedes yet another example of Russian diplomatic relations.

Russia Pledges Support to Serbia

"The man tipped to become the next Russian president has vowed his country will "stick to" its support for Serbia in opposing Kosovo's independence.

Deputy PM Dmitry Medvedev was in Belgrade for talks with Serb President Boris Tadic and PM Vojislav Kostunica.

Although its focus is mainly economic, the visit is seen as a sign of support for Serbia's view on Kosovo, the BBC's Bethany Bell in Belgrade says.

Kosovo's declaration of independence sparked protests in Serbia last week.

"We proceed from the assumption that Serbia is a united country, whose jurisdiction covers the whole of its territory, and we shall stick to this principled stand," Mr Medvedev said during his meeting with Mr Kostunica, Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported."

Mr Medvedev's comments, and the timing of his visit, will be seen as evidence that Russia's foreign policy is unlikely to change once serving President Vladimir Putin steps down.

Mr Putin's term in office has seen a marked deterioration in relations with the West, most recently over the issues of Kosovo and Nato's ambitions in former eastern bloc states like Poland and the Czech Republic.

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This is important because it can cripple Russian international relationships. By supporting Serbia, Russia has alienated itself from the countries that support Kosovo’s independence. Tensions between Russia and the United States are now more strained than ever since the U.S supports Kosovo’s independence. The main reason Russia is backing Serbia is because of their trade deal between Gazprom and the Serbian state enterprise, Serbiagas.

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Russia Proposes to Ukraine Joint Development of Oil, Gas Fields

Gazprom Building

Moscow, February 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has proposed to Ukraine the joint development of hydrocarbon fields in both countries on the basis of equitable asset swaps, the Russian prime minister said on Wednesday after bilateral talks.

"Our proposals to Ukraine concern not only transit operations, but also the joint development of hydrocarbons deposits in both countries, with a commensurate swapping of assets," Viktor Zubkov said.

The prime ministers of Russia and Ukraine confirmed the natural gas commitments made by their respective presidents.

Following talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko, Zubkov said: "We have reaffirmed our rigorous compliance with the commitments made by our presidents in this field."

He also there were good prospects for Russian-Ukrainian cooperation in the nuclear sphere and in power engineering.

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This article goes on to say that while imports from the Ukraine have increased to almost 40%, Russian exports only grew 9%. The latest agreement between the two countries seems to be a way for Russia to undo some of its past wrongs when dealing with Ukraine and perhaps reap some of Ukraine’s trade benefits. The direct link between Gazprom and Naftogaz could create a super gas company that could create a monopoly on fuel in their area and it could cause the price of fuel to fluctuate.

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Russia in Ukraine Missile Threat

Viktor Yushchenko

"Russia has said it may target its missiles at Ukraine if its neighbour joins Nato and accepts the deployment of the US missile defence shield.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made the comments in Moscow alongside Ukraine's President, Viktor Yushchenko.

Mr Putin has condemned US plans to include Poland and the Czech Republic in its missile defence shield.

The leaders had been meeting in urgent talks over a gas dispute and announced a deal to avoid disrupting supplies."

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The rest of the article discusses the other issues Russia is involved in. The countries in Europe are worried that since Russia has agreed to freeze gas prices while Ukraine pays back Gazprom, the prices of gas in Europe will fluctuate. Russia is responding to Ukraine’s attempt to join NATO by developing more high-tech weapons.

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Gazprom Threatens Ukraine Gas Cut

"Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has warned Ukraine it will reduce its gas supplies from next Monday if a $1.5bn (£772m) gas debt is not paid off." They say that this would affect only 25% of the country's total fuel supply.


On Wednesday, Ukraine joined the World Trade Organisation after 14 years of negotiations. Russia is the world's only major economy not to be a member.


This leads to claims Gazprom is also being accused of making this warning for political reasons, but Mr Kochevrin, the Gazprom spokesman, insisted "We're a commercial company: our investors won't understand if our profits fall."


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Lately, Russia's government and businesses have been uncomfortabley chaffing with its surrounding nations and the larger power of the world. Aside from negatively impacting the Ukraine, this act will most likely further the already declining international opinion of Russia.

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Vladimir Putin May Become Dmitry Medvedev’s Successor at Gazprom

"Many observers say that there will not be a major confrontation held during the presidential election in Russia on March 2. First Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will most likely replace Vladimir Putin on the top state position. Putin in his turn will chair the government.

However, it is still unclear who will chair the Board of Directors of Russia’s natural gas giant Gazprom. It is Dmitry Medvedev who takes the position at the moment. If he becomes Russia’s next president he will not be able to stay at Gazprom. It is worthy of note that Gazprom’s administration will have to approve the new list of candidates to its Board of Directors on February 4. The annual meeting of Gazprom’s shareholders is slated to take place on June 27.

Gazprom’s Board of Directors consists of ten people. Four of them represent the state structures, four others are from Gazprom itself, and the remaining two act as independent economists. The list of candidates is longer this year, spokespeople for the gas monopoly said. It counts 42 names as opposed to 26 in 2007.

Like it was mentioned above, Dmitry Medvedev will not be able to combine two positions of the president and the chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom. However, Vladimir Putin will have a full right for this, experts say.

It is not ruled out that Vladimir Putin may thus become Dmitry Medvedev’s successor at Gazprom. "

Gazprom is the largest Russian company. Gazprom is the biggest extractor of natural gas in the world With sales of US$31 billion in 2004. It accounts for about 93 percent of Russian natural gas production; with reserves of 28,800 km3, it controls 16 percent of the world's gas reserves (as of 2004, including the Shtokman field.) After acquisition of the oil company Sibneft, Gazprom, with 119 billion barrels of reserves, ranks behind only Saudi Arabia, with 263 billion barrels, and Iran, with 133 billion barrels, as the world's biggest owner of oil and oil equivalent in natural gas.

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This is important because it gives further insight into how powerful Putin is and can be. Not only will he still be in control of the government if Medvedev is elected, but he could also have control of a large oil company with billions at his disposal.

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