Prime Minister of Ukraine Appeals to EU in Connection with Russian Gas Supplies

The Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk has appealed to the European Commissioners and leaders of the EU participating states in connection with the situation which occurred with the shipment of the Russian natural gas.

“In the context of the measures taken to prevent the crisis situation in energy security area we report the following, despite endeavors undertaken by Ukraine and the European Union, the Russian party fails to demonstrate readiness to settle the problem of supplying natural gas from the Russian Federation to Ukraine and the EU countries,” the address reads.

“We have launched the negotiations to ensure safety of supplies in tripartite format – EU – Ukraine – the Russian Federation. Moreover, in the previous week a bilateral meeting of head of board of Naftogaz of Ukraine Andrii Kolobov and head of board of Gazprom Alexey Miller took place. However, through the position of the Russian party it didn’t yield a result. Apart from that, a response by Gazprom company to the prearbitral message of Naftogaz of Ukraine is the proof that the Russian side rejects any dialog,” the document reads.

Considering the abovementioned, the Ukrainian party draws attention to the following aspects of the negotiation process.

“The position of Ukraine concerning inadmissibility to introduce a monopoly, politically motivated price for the Russian natural gas, which was increased almost twofold on the unilateral basis and lacking any economic grounds, still remains invariable. The Ukrainian party suggests Gazprom company to sign extra deal and fix the price for natural gas for 2014 in the amount of USD 268.5 per 1 thousand cubic meters, as was determined in the I quarter of 2014. After signing the agreement Ukraine suggests the existing debt to be paid off to the Russian side within 10 days,” the address reads.

It is informed in the document that the Ukrainian party has never refused to cover expenses for the consumed gas: “In this context we also emphasize, in connection with the absence of accord by the Russian party to settle the dispute regarding the natural gas price, the pre-payment issue cannot be included into the agenda of the contractual relations.”

“Ukraine, being the participant of the European Energy Charter and Energy Community, officially declares its position that Ukrainian gas transporting system including underground storages needs to be jointly upgraded and used by the Ukrainian state with involvement of investors from the European Union and the United States of America. It should be noted that the Russian side isn’t included into the mentioned international communities that determine transparent rules of energy security on the European continent. In this regard we suggest to replace the point of receiving the Russian natural gas to the Ukrainian-Russian border and sign new relevant deals, which will enable European gas companies to use free capacities of Ukrainian underground storages in order to satisfy joint energy security interests,” the address contains.

The Ukrainian party promotes a strong message that provoking of a new “gas crisis” and attempts to discredit the reliability of a transit route via Ukraine are aimed exceptionally at construction of the Southern Flow gas pipeline, which, instead of ensuring diversification and strengthening of energy independence of the EU, is to bypass the territory of Ukraine as a transit country.

“It must be acknowledged that in case the Russian Federation refuses to settle the argument, a relevant claim shall be sent in the end of the current month for considering by the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. Ukraine is committed to resolve the dispute in arbitral manner or beyond,” the document reads.