Posted on 03/04/2009 6:43:30 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Fears of a new European energy crisis are after masked gunmen from Ukraine's intelligence agency stormed the headquarters of the state gas company in a raid that could throw relations with Russia back into crisis.
The attack on the Kiev offices of Naftogaz was connected to a long-running dispute between Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian president, and his prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, over the control of the country's energy industry. Government officials gave warning that it could lead to a Saturday deadline to pay Russia £284â million for gas delivered to Ukraine in February being missed.
Millions of European consumers were left without gas for the first two weeks of this year after Russia severed supplies to Ukraine over a payment dispute that observers said involved political wrangling. Ukraine acts as a conduit for 80 per cent of Russian gas bound for Europe.
Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, gave warning that if Ukraine missed its Saturday deadline he would invoke a contractual clause that would oblige Kiev to pay for all its gas in advance. He refused to rule out another shutdown in supplies.
"If they refuse to pay up, we'll have to do something," he said.
Ukraine, whose economic problems have led to it seeking a bail-out from the International Monetary Fund, could be badly damaged if it was forced to pay for gas in advance.
Officials in Mrs Tymoshenko's government claimed that the raid was designed to sabotage a deal with Gazprom, the Russian state gas company, that she brokered.
According to Naftogaz workers, 20 armed officials from the state intelligence agency, the SBU, stormed their headquarters and demanded documents that formed the basis of the deal. Without those the company would not be able to obtain customs clearance to meet its contractual obligations with Gazprom.
Officials close to
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
BTTT
This will all be on Ukraine this time if Gas gets cut off again.
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