KIEV, Nov 18 - Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, seeking to dispel European fears of a new gas war with Russia, on Wednesday said an agreement struck with Moscow in January guaranteed Russian gas transit in 2010.
Tymoshenko spoke on the eve of talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin which analysts will monitor closely for signs of whether there could be another end-of-year dispute affecting supplies of Russian natural gas across Ukraine to Europe.
"I want to disappoint all those who constantly are weighing up gas conflicts...gas issues will not be discussed," she told reporters.
But Moscow quickly made clear the gas issue would indeed be at the centre of Thursday's talks. "The situation in the gas sphere will be discussed thoroughly and in detail," Putin's deputy chief of staff, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters in Moscow.
"Every seventh day of the month (when Ukraine's payment for gas is due) a situation resembling a deadlock arises. This is a concern for the prime minister," Ushakov said. "He is dealing with this issue, he is pressing all the pedals."
Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine -- a route that supplies a fifth of Europe's gas -- were halted for more than two weeks in January due to a quarrel between Moscow and Kiev over prices and terms.
Millions in southern Europe were left without heating.
Tymoshenko, under pressure from President Viktor Yushchenko whom she is running against in a presidential election on Jan. 17, said a gas agreement with Putin which ended the dispute last January was a good one and did not have to be revised.
Pressed by journalists, Tymoshenko said: "No new agreement exists. It is not needed."
Asked about prospects for gas supplies to Europe across Ukraine in 2010, she said: "There is an absolute guarantee of stability ..."
Eighty percent of exported Russian gas transits Ukraine to European markets.
RAISING TEMPERATURE
Putin raised the temperature around the talks in Yalta, southern Ukraine, when he said on Nov. 11 that Russia would cut gas deliveries again if Ukraine stopped paying on time or siphoned off gas crossing its territory.
Russia is sending a large delegation to Yalta, including Putin's deputy Igor Sechin, responsible for energy, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, and gas firm Gazprom's CEO Alexei Miller.
Questions of whether Ukraine can meet monthly payments for gas have persisted because of the dire state of Ukraine's economy. Even Tymoshenko has conceded that meeting the monthly bill is not easy.
Yushchenko, who views Tymoshenko as a bitter rival for power, has constantly sniped at last January's gas agreement, saying that Ukraine's national interests have been endangered.
He says the price accepted for Russian gas is too high while transit fees coming to Ukraine were pitched too low.
A Yushchenko aide said on Wednesday that this year gas transit had been assured only because of heavy borrowing by Naftogas, the state energy company, but next year there would be a problem buying gas for storage, needed to support transit.
Ukraine had accepted "conditions of bondage", Bohdan Sokolovsky, presidential energy envoy, told journalists, saying the situation in the gas sector was critical.
Tymoshenko, however, said on Wednesday that a rise in transit fees next year, foreseen in the agreement would improve Naftogaz's financial health.
Oleksander Dergachev, an independent analyst, suggested that Tymoshenko had a political interest in avoiding a gas discussion with Moscow that could rebound on her election chances.
"Tymoshenko has an interest in gas agreements signed at her initiative being accepted normally and not through the prism of criticism by President Yushchenko. At the moment, no-one has an interest in (showing) doubts and instability," he told Reuters.
As recently as last weekend, Tymoshenko told reporters that she and Putin would discuss how to "optimise" the price of Russian gas "and how to optimise all our relations" at their Yalta talks.
Tymoshenko spoke on the eve of talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin which analysts will monitor closely for signs of whether there could be another end-of-year dispute affecting supplies of Russian natural gas across Ukraine to Europe.
"I want to disappoint all those who constantly are weighing up gas conflicts...gas issues will not be discussed," she told reporters.
But Moscow quickly made clear the gas issue would indeed be at the centre of Thursday's talks. "The situation in the gas sphere will be discussed thoroughly and in detail," Putin's deputy chief of staff, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters in Moscow.
"Every seventh day of the month (when Ukraine's payment for gas is due) a situation resembling a deadlock arises. This is a concern for the prime minister," Ushakov said. "He is dealing with this issue, he is pressing all the pedals."
Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine -- a route that supplies a fifth of Europe's gas -- were halted for more than two weeks in January due to a quarrel between Moscow and Kiev over prices and terms.
Millions in southern Europe were left without heating.
Tymoshenko, under pressure from President Viktor Yushchenko whom she is running against in a presidential election on Jan. 17, said a gas agreement with Putin which ended the dispute last January was a good one and did not have to be revised.
Pressed by journalists, Tymoshenko said: "No new agreement exists. It is not needed."
Asked about prospects for gas supplies to Europe across Ukraine in 2010, she said: "There is an absolute guarantee of stability ..."
Eighty percent of exported Russian gas transits Ukraine to European markets.
RAISING TEMPERATURE
Putin raised the temperature around the talks in Yalta, southern Ukraine, when he said on Nov. 11 that Russia would cut gas deliveries again if Ukraine stopped paying on time or siphoned off gas crossing its territory.
Russia is sending a large delegation to Yalta, including Putin's deputy Igor Sechin, responsible for energy, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, and gas firm Gazprom's CEO Alexei Miller.
Questions of whether Ukraine can meet monthly payments for gas have persisted because of the dire state of Ukraine's economy. Even Tymoshenko has conceded that meeting the monthly bill is not easy.
Yushchenko, who views Tymoshenko as a bitter rival for power, has constantly sniped at last January's gas agreement, saying that Ukraine's national interests have been endangered.
He says the price accepted for Russian gas is too high while transit fees coming to Ukraine were pitched too low.
A Yushchenko aide said on Wednesday that this year gas transit had been assured only because of heavy borrowing by Naftogas, the state energy company, but next year there would be a problem buying gas for storage, needed to support transit.
Ukraine had accepted "conditions of bondage", Bohdan Sokolovsky, presidential energy envoy, told journalists, saying the situation in the gas sector was critical.
Tymoshenko, however, said on Wednesday that a rise in transit fees next year, foreseen in the agreement would improve Naftogaz's financial health.
Oleksander Dergachev, an independent analyst, suggested that Tymoshenko had a political interest in avoiding a gas discussion with Moscow that could rebound on her election chances.
"Tymoshenko has an interest in gas agreements signed at her initiative being accepted normally and not through the prism of criticism by President Yushchenko. At the moment, no-one has an interest in (showing) doubts and instability," he told Reuters.
As recently as last weekend, Tymoshenko told reporters that she and Putin would discuss how to "optimise" the price of Russian gas "and how to optimise all our relations" at their Yalta talks.
