Ukraine, Russia Set to Take Gas Battle in Courts
The ongoing feud between Ukraine and Russia over a proposed review of the existing gas contract between the two nations threatens to snowball, with both nations vowing to seek legal redress in international courts.
Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovich said that court action appeared to be the last resort if Russia fails to offer a better deal, while Russian presidential spokeswoman Natalia Timakova stated that the country might opt to move the court to protect its interests over gas deals with Ukraine.
"We have faced a situation when Ukraine is losing big money (on Russian gas)... If Russia does not agree with it (to offer better conditions on gas deliveries), certainly, we will have to go to the International Court," Yanikovich said while speaking on the sidelines of the Commonwealth of Independent States Summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
I hope we'll have enough wisdom to find a common solution," he said.
"Russia is ready to defend its interests on the [gas] deal in any court and will act in a strict compliance with this document. There's no question of reviewing the agreement unilaterally," Timakova said.
Both observations came on Saturday in course of the summit at Tajikistan, according to reports in the newswires.
Russia, Timakova said, declined to accept manipulations of Kiev which ordered a restructuring of Naftogaz, Ukraine's state owned gas company, to turn the existing contract between the two countries invalid.
Ukraine has earlier announced that it would restructure Naftogaz, spinning off its gas production division through a public listing. Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said that the move would lead to the revision of all existing gas supply and transshipment agreements with Russia's Gazprom.
Timakova claimed that the issue was discussed between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Yanukovich at the summit and Moscow was of the opinion that the 2009 10-year deals between Gazprom and Naftogaz should be strictly observed.
Meanwhile, Azarov ruled out the possibility of the two countries resorting to any sort of war, particulary over gas, because of disagreements on the price of fuel.
"No one will ever live to see any war, including gas [war] with our strategic partner - Russia," Azarov told Inter TV channel. "Ukraine intends to fulfill a valid contract despite the disagreements until there is an agreement on a new price."
Yanukovich also reieterated that Ukraine was not considering the issue of merger between Naftogaz and Gazprom at all and would not yield to any pressures during gas talks as it was "humiliating."
"(Russia) pushed us in the corner, at first, and then started to dictate terms. Today, it humiliates not only me, but the entire nation, and I can not allow it," he insisted.
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