Moscow postpones talks with Kiev over snub (Roundup)

Mar 24, 2009, 14:15 GMT

Moscow - Russia, angered at being left out of a gas transit deal between Kiev and the European Union this week, on Tuesday indefinitely postponed inter-governmental gas talks with Ukraine.

President Dmitry Medvedev made the announcement at a meeting of the country's security council one day after the European Commission signed a memorandum pledging to invest in developing Ukraine's gas pipeline system.

'We had planned to hold inter-governmental consultations at the prime minister's level next week. But we need to postpone them to until we clarify this issue,' Medvedev said in televised statements.

The document raises a number of questions, Medvedev said, while Prime Minister Vladimir Putin added that it must be 'scrutinized' by Russian experts.

'The gas can't come anywhere but from Russia,' Putin said at the meeting of senior officials. 'But no one has consulted us on this issue.'

Putin had already issued a sharp reprimand Monday evening, warning Russia would be forced to 'review' its ties with the EU if Moscow was sidelined from consultations.

Ukrainian officials said the Kremlin's reaction to the EU-Ukraine announcement was unwarranted, and argued they had acted in the best interest of their country.

'It's obvious that the modernisation of Ukraine's gas transport system - and this means particularly its expansion - can't take place without Russia,' said MP Mykola Martynenko, parliament energy committee chairman.

'The Russian reaction is based on emotions and false impressions,' he told the Interfax news agency.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko at a Tuesday Kiev press conference repeated her statements the day previous in Brussels, saying 'of course we want the Russians to participate in the project.'

'But the agreement with the EU is a matter of vital national interest to Ukraine...and as Prime Minister I could not act otherwise,' she added.

Russian officials criticized the agreement signed by Tymoshenko and EU officials on Monday as a Kiev gambit to lock out Kremlin influence over Ukraine's pipeline system, trading Russian investors for European.

Tymoshenko said 'the agreement is for every one...and there were no winners or losers.'

Over 80 per cent of Russian gas supplies to the European Union are shipped through Ukraine's pipeline network.

Disputes between Moscow and Kiev over gas prices, Ukrainian debt, and transit fees led to full stop of Russian gas delivered to Ukrainian pipelines in early January, spiking gas shortages and price spikes as far away as France.

Russia offered to trade Ukrainian debt for ownership of Ukraine's gas pipeline network, a proposal rejected by Kiev as dangerous for Ukrainian national security.