Posted on 01/01/2006 12:39:25 AM PST by HAL9000
MOSCOW. Jan 1 (Interfax) - Gazprom has started to reduce pressure in pipelines that deliver Russian gas to Ukrainian consumers, Russian gas giant spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said in Moscow on Sunday.Gas shipments transiting Ukraine en route to Europe are proceeding in full, he said.
On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Ukraine a three-month gas price freeze as long as the Ukrainian authorities agreed to pay what Gazprom sees as the market price of $230 for 1,000 cubic meters, Kupriyanov said.
"We were ready to accommodate the Ukrainian people's needs and maintain comfortable conditions for our work during the winter season, which is the most difficult period from the point of view of energy supplies. But our offer has been turned down," the spokesman said.
It means that "from the very beginning the Ukrainian authorities had plans to begin to use gas without permission from January 1. To be more precise, they planned to start to steal gas - steal it from European consumers," he said.
Ukraine's rejection "of our proposed solution to the problems will entail catastrophic consequences for the Ukrainian economy and, unfortunately, the fraternal people of Ukraine," Kupriyanov said.
"We believe that it will be extremely difficult - impossible, to be more precise - for the authorities of Ukraine to explain to their people the reason for such a short-sighted policy," the spokesman said.
Here we go...
Really thought things wouldn't come too such a pass, especially as Russia has as much to lose on this one as Ukraine.
What a spectacularly bad start to Russia's G8 presidency.
Well, the transit fees could also be quadrupled, as a counterproposal. But seriously, they have only 3-4 years to organize the alternatives (coal, coal gasification, nuclear) before the Baltic bypass pipeline goes on stream.
This is only the begining. Putin and his ex-kgb Kremlin buddies have seized most of the energy resources in Russia.
Now comes many years of them thuging eastern and western europe via energy prices and policies. Their military is a joke. So now they are going to try to regain superpower status by controling the flow of energy to Europe, India, and China.
Anyone doesn't ass kiss Kremlin butt, expect a quaduple increase in prices for NG and Oil.
After being such a poor master in the Soviet Union days, Russia now trys to sway opinion by playing hardball with fuel.
Great way to get you neighbors enamored with you, by freezing them to death.
Now you know why Russians are hated worldwide.
Not much has changed since the USSR fell apart. The russian politicians and military have always had a mindset that the only way to accomplish something is by brute force.
It will continue to hold them back for many years to come.
Always thought you'd get more with honey then a boot to the throat.
Might be interesting. Didn't USSR financing build the pipeline initially? If so, Ukraine might have some unreimbursed interests. A convoluted cobination of property and operational rights might exist here.
Well, the transit fees could also be quadrupled, as a counterproposal. ==
They couldn't do that because Russia then quadripled the transit fees for Turmenian gas she pumps for Ukraine.
Don't get me wrong. Russia, of course, has the right to charge market prices for its gas. But the petty, vindictive and hypocritical manner in which Putin has gone about this does not befit the leader of a country that now holds the presidency of the G8.==
Do you ready put YOUR money where you mouth? Go fund Ukraine bill for gas.
WHY on earth russian budget has to subcidy Ukraine which FIRSTLY not secondly turned Russia down?
Putin would be fool and be impeached if he forfeits the russian money to Ukraine. Not anymore!
If Russia cuts oil support, the pro-Russian Ukrainians would decline its support, with a neverending anti-Russian tide to be planted in the minds of Ukrainians. Blackmail will only make people angry. How stupid the Russians are.
In English, old boy?
In English, old boy?==
Get your checkbook and fund Ukranian gas bill if you feel for them. Russia will not anymore.
Funny that the Russians would want to impeach Putin for bullying Ukraine but not for cosying up to Islam Karimov. Apparently a man who orders the biggest mass killing of demonstrators since Tianamen square is very welcome in the Kremlin.
Not to mention of course Belarus (price of Russian gas: $47 per thousand cubic metres) or Turkmenistan.
Putin and his ex-KGB crony thugs in the Kremlin are full of the worst kind of nationalist zeal, and are obssessed with a desire to make Russia great again. That means, for them, not winning the admiration of the rest of the world by creating a free market democracy but forcing the respect of other by ruling through fear. Russia, as it always has done, prefers to be feared rather than admired. That's something the rest of us should be deeply, deeply worried about.
Russia only has a moral obligation not to take such a maximalist stance.
You cannot, after subsidizing the Kuchma regime, suddenly pull the plug. The Ukrainian economy will go into freefall, shrinking by five percent per annum. Inflation will leap to 30 percent and unemployment will rocket.
Ukraine has agreed to pay market prices if they are phased in over a five year period, a reasonable proposal and one that merited a sensible counter offer.
But yes, even so, Russia does not have to subsidize Ukraine.
But tell me, what message does this send to the rest of the world: Prices are suddenly hiked for a country that held a democratic election in which a toady of the Kremlin was defeated but are kept at a quarter of the market price for Belarus, ruled by an unpleasant dictator who sucks up to Putin.
Petty, vindictive and hypocritical.
If Russia doesn't want to subsidize Ukraine, then they have no legitimate complaint when Ukraine falls into the sphere of influence of another nation. It's an either/or proposition - either you get the influence or you keep your money.
But yes, even so, Russia does not have to subsidize Ukraine.
But tell me, what message does this send to the rest of the world: Prices are suddenly hiked for a country that held a democratic election in which a toady of the Kremlin was defeated but are kept at a quarter of the market price for Belarus, ruled by an unpleasant dictator who sucks up to Putin.
Petty, vindictive and hypocritical.==
Vindictive? I'd say yes. Hypocritical- no.
The Belorus nation is friends. So Russia wants to help friends.
US budget finances Israel for 3 bln dollars each year. WHY I'd ask? Because israelis are friends and allies of USA on Middle East. I understand it.
But sameway you understand that Russia wants to help friends and allies from Belorus.
Imagine for minute if Israel betrayed USA suddently. To turn back on american interests. What did you do? I know you will punish Israel for that. Vindictively. Will use any
possibility in your disposal. But first of all you will cut the subcidy of 3 blns of dollars.
Same case with Ukraine today. Russia wants to punish her for betrayal. SO first thing she hits her pocket by taking away about 4+ blns of US dollars income of subsidized gas prices.
1. Israel holds democratic elections on a regular basis. Belarus is the last dictatorship in Europe.
2. How does the fact that Ukraine holds a democratic election in which the Kremlin-backed candidate loses constitute a betrayal of Russia?
Russia wants to punish countries that exercise democratic choice and reward some of the world's most repressive regimes. How do you justify Putin's encouragement of Karimov post Andijan (quite apart from the fact that Putin also encouraged Karimov to crack down on protestors in the first place)?
Why does Russia fear coloured revolutions so? Why can't it adopt a mature attitude, accept that the people in former Soviet countries have made their choice and then work with them to build a new relationship instead of bullying, hectoring and threatening them?
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