Addressing a press conference, Naftohaz Ukrainy CEO Oleh Dubyna gave lies to the information circulated by the mass media on President Viktor Yushchenko having allegedly recalled the Ukrainian delegation from its talks with Russia's Gazprom natural gas monopoly on December 31 and ordered to stop the talks
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“I have not been called off from Moscow, and nobody instructed me how to hold the talks,” he said. Dubyna also added that Gazprom declarations of Naftohaz Ukrainy lacking a mandate to sign the gas supply contract do not correspond to fact. “There are directives. They are in my hands, signed by the Prime Minister and the President. And they read: direct relations with Gazprom,” the Naftohaz Ukrainy head said. He admitted this allegation by Gazprom might have been inspired by the New Year holidays. As Ukrainian News reported, Gazprom fully stopped the supply of natural gas to Ukraine on January 1. On December 31, Gazprom said a new round of talks with Naftohaz Ukrainy on gas supplies in 2009 was a failure. Ukraine proposes that Russia increase the price of its natural gas for this country by USD 21.5 to USD 201 per 1,000 cubic meters, and the transit rate by USD 0.3 to USD 2 per 1,000 cubic meters pumped over 100 kilometers. Gazprom proposed that Naftohaz Ukrainy buy its natural gas at USD 250 per 1,000 cubic meters from 2009. Naftohaz Ukrainy said in the evening on December 30 that it had transferred USD 1.5228 billion to repay its gas debt in full. RosUkrEnergo confirmed that it had received the sum, saying that Naftohaz Ukrainy still owes USD 600 million in fines. |
