Ukraine, in Rebuke to Russia, Says It Has Right to Take Gas (Oranges admit to theft & a cold Europe)

NYT ^ | January 3, 2006

[jb6]

KIEV, Ukraine, Jan. 3 - Ukraine conceded today that it had withdrawn natural gas from its pipeline system that Russia said was intended for export to Europe, but it asserted that it had a contractual right to the fuel under an agreement with the Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan.

Genadiy Minchenko/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images A view of the Bogorechanke gas-holding facility near Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine on Monday before Russia resumed most gas supplies.

Arterial Pipelines

Both Russia and Turkmenistan export natural gas to Ukraine, but the flow of fuel from Central Asia passes through Russian pipelines before it reaches the Ukrainian border.

[jb6]

Well, well, well, seems the Orange theft is why Europe shivered. Time for Gazprom to sue the UKRAINIAN GAS MONOPOLY for this theft.

[jb6]

The Orange Theives come clean and are full of stolen gas.

[MARKUSPRIME]

Authoritarian governments suck.

[kaiser80]

Fortunatelly some people see the double standard of soviet thinking. Today's "WSJ" suggest that Russia should be excluded from G8. It's not about Ukraine itself anymore...

[Timedrifter]

This comes after we have bombarded for two days with denials from the Orange camp and their supporters here on FR. They owe the Russians an apology for calling them liars, but we both know it will never come.

[jb6]

Today's "WSJ" suggest that Russia should be excluded from G8. It's not about Ukraine itself anymore...

No its about a personal hatred that doesn't care which slime it has to sleep with (aka Berezovsky, Chechens, etc) as long as it's against the Russians.

[kaiser80]

I has nothing to do with the support of the Orange. It never has. Open your eyes!

[Timedrifter]

Cold hard facts for the future.

Countries with the Largest Natural Gas Reserves

Rank Country Trillion cubic feet

1 Russia 1,695
2 Iran 929.1
3 Qatar 400
4 Saudi Arabia 214
5 United Arab Emirates 204.1
6 United States 177.4
7 Algeria 155.6
8 Venezuela 147.6
9 Indonesia 146.9
10 Nigeria 125
11 Iraq 112.6
12 Malaysia 81.7
13 Canada 62.2
14 Netherlands 58.4
15 Kuwait 56.6
16 Egypt 50.6
17 Libya 46.4
18 Australia 44
19 China 42
20 Norway 41.8

http://www.aneki.com/gas.html

[kaiser80]

No its about a personal hatred that doesn't care which slime it has to sleep with (aka Berezovsky, Chechens, etc) as long as it's against the Russians.

You meen to tell me that conservative, nonpolish, commentators from Wall Street Journal are hatred and antirussian?

[jb6]

The wallstreet journal is a neo-con publication, not to be confused with conservative. Further, they've been whoring for Berezovsky and his crew since his self-exile and since Putin started protecting his markets, something the China loving WSJ is very much against. Furthermore, as for commentators, they're fully up for sale in most media.

[GOPGuide]

Jb6,

What if the gas dispute causes support for Yanukyvich to drop in the polls, or do you think that Ukrainians will blame Yushecnko for the gas war problem?

Also, This is sort of off topic but,

Do you believe if a referendum were to be held asking Ukrainians if they want reunification with Russia would that referendum pass? Have there ever been any polls asking Ukrainians if they would vote for reunification?

[GOPGuide]

Jb6,

What if the gas dispute causes support for Yanukyvich to drop in the polls, or do you think that Ukrainians will blame Yushecnko for the gas war problem?

Also, This is sort of off topic but,

Do you believe if a referendum were to be held asking Ukrainians if they want reunification with Russia would that referendum pass? Have there ever been any polls asking Ukrainians if they would vote for reunification?

[GSlob]

Canadian Arctic lands ought to have much more than the stated amount.

[Mazepa]

There can't be Russian gas in Ukrainian pipes for Ukraine to steal because Russia hasn't negotiated an agreement with Ukraine to transport it. If Russia is transporting the gas it's breaking the law. So WTF is Russian gas doing in Ukraine?

[Mazepa]

The Orange Theives come clean and are full of stolen gas.

It's not Russian gas but Turkmeni, how's that a theft?

[Rockingham]

The key point of concern for the West is that by abruptly cutting off gas supplies to punish and intimidate the Ukraine, Putin and Gazprom have marked Russia as an untrustworthy energy supplier. This will have negative political and economic consequences for Russia.

The Europeans do not want to depend on a crazy uncle who is a Chekist nostalgic for the USSR and ever poised to cut their gas and oil supplies as an assertion of Russian national power. As an alternative to Russian gas and oil, Norway's new gas fields and LNG port and storage facilities will be pursued with greater effort. The Baltic pipeline project may also be dropped.

Here is Yahoo's excerpt from a widely reported interview that decisively discredits Russia's account of its dealings with the Ukraine:

". . . Andrei Illarionov, Putin's former economic adviser, blasted it Saturday as a political move signaling the rise of neo-imperialist trends in Kremlin policy.

Illarionov said the Kremlin had asked him to help portray the price hike as a free-market measure, but he resigned this week because the move "had no relation not only to liberal economic policy, but to economic policy at all."

"Energy weapons are being used against neighbors," Illarionov said on Ekho Moskvy radio. "The move toward a policy of imperialism ... has a clear and high price that will eventually be paid by the citizens of a nation that embarks on the imperialist path."

Illarionov said that in August 2004, Gazprom signed a deal with Ukraine's gas company that envisaged five years of gas supplies at $50 per 1,000 cubic meters — part of the Kremlin's efforts to support presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych, who lost to the Western-leaning Yushchenko.

"When the political situation changed, they remembered about subsidies," said Illarionov, who long was a dissenter in the Kremlin, which is dominated by Putin's fellow veterans of the Soviet spy agency KGB.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051231/ap_on_re_eu/ukraine_russia_gas

[LEPEN]

Good job to Putin for taking a hard line on this. Bunch of scumbags Soros & crew are.

[airborne]

Where is George Soros, and why isn't the press interviewing him?

I'd love to hear what he has to say on the matter.

[Mazepa]

May I join in with my 2 cents?
1)First is the multimillion dollar question. Who knows? If Ukrainians are Little Russians then this gas war would work against Yuschenko, if not, it would work for him.
2) No, Ukraine isn't joining Russia anytime soon. Even East Ukraine wouldn't go for that. (They'd go for "closer ties and cooperation"- whatever that means.)

[Hill of Tara]

Uh oh, this is going to be interesting to watch unfold.