Putin's former economic advisor Andrei Illarionov neatly summed up the legal rights and wrongs of the dispute on Ekho Moskvy this morning. He damns the Russian position hook, line and sinker. Here's what he says:
"Today's prices, 50 dollars per 1,000 cu. m., were set by a supplementary agreement to a contract between Gazprom and Naftohaz [Ukrayiny] which was signed on 8 August 2004. The contract, according to the text of the supplementary agreement, is to be in effect for five years, up to 2009. The supplementary agreement states that the price of 50 dollars per 1,000 cu. m. is fixed. For those who don't fully understand the meaning of the Russian word fixed, it says two lines further down that these prices are not changeable."
Putin's former economic advisor Andrei Illarionov neatly summed up the legal rights and wrongs of the dispute on Ekho Moskvy this morning. ==
DO not listen that oligarkh advocate. Illarionov is relict of Eltsin rule which Putin kept too long.