The woman gave in to the man

Yulia Tymoshenko did not offer Russia a personal gas plan

Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, who yesterday came to Russia for the first time since her second coming to this post, yielded to Vladimir Putin on the gas issue . What Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko could not do, the Russian President successfully accomplished. Namely: to convince Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliy Tymoshenko to pay debts to Gazprom.

Yesterday, during a creative dinner at the official residence of the Russian head of state in Novo-Ogarevo, Mr. Putin convinced Ms. Tymoshenko that the gas war was not in her favor. Negotiations in Moscow apparently had a beneficial effect on the position of the Ukrainian prime minister, and she believed in the agreements of February 12 between Putin and Yushchenko, which would resolve the gas conflict. But still, Ms. Tymoshenko remained of one opinion: there should be no intermediaries in the supply of Central Asian gas to Ukraine. But, as a high-ranking source in the Russian government told Vremya Novostey, “if the Ukrainian side makes a decision from within to refuse intermediaries, that’s its problem.” “On the Russian side, gas interests will invariably be represented by Gazprom, and we will not allow its interests to be infringed under any circumstances,” the source emphasized.

A little earlier that evening, Yulia Tymoshenko, wearing the same snow-white dress, held talks with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. And she also demonstrated the ability to take a punch. After all, the day before, going to Moscow, instead of a friendly farewell, she received a harsh beating from her president. Viktor Yushchenko recalled that the Ukrainian government should have fully repaid gas debts on February 14. However, out of 7.5 billion hryvnia, only 1.5 billion were paid. And that, as the Ukrainian president explained, “through great efforts, including my personal.” “What is owed must be paid. Or our country will face a challenge for which it will pay dearly. I would ask you to take this into account when organizing negotiations in Moscow,” Mr. Yushchenko emphasized. And he directly accused the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine of sabotage.

However, despite the challenge, Ms. Tymoshenko once again demonstrated diplomatic tact. Mr. Zubkov was so grateful to the impeccably correct behavior of his Ukrainian counterpart that he emphasized in every possible way his gentlemanly attitude: sometimes he would slow down a step, let him go forward, sometimes he would pull up a chair, he even took him hand in hand to show the paintings (a small exhibition of paintings by the artist Vasily Nesterenko was opened in the White House, many of which, by the way, are dedicated to the Crimean War).

Apparently, the one-on-one negotiations were not in vain, and later, at a meeting of the expanded composition of government delegations, and then in front of the press, the prime ministers of Ukraine and Russia spoke as a well-coordinated duet, in unison. Both vowed that they were on a positive and effective negotiating path. That from now on cooperation will be resumed. “The Ukrainian government believes that the field for our cooperation is limitless,” Ms. Tymoshenko said. She proposed that in each area of ​​cooperation (there are currently ten of them - according to the number of intergovernmental commissions, including the fuel and energy complex; the Ukrainian Prime Minister proposed creating an eleventh - on ecology) to highlight one priority. And based on these priorities, draw up a target program for the activities of the economic committee, which is headed by the prime ministers of the two countries. Ms. Tymoshenko hopes to fully agree on our goals already in April 2008 at a meeting of this committee. Obviously, after gas becomes a priority in the fuel and energy complex, Yulia Tymoshenko will give free rein to her vision of the problem.

So far, Mr. Zubkov has turned out to be even more outspoken than his Ukrainian counterpart. He calmed the gas passions by remarking that he and Mrs. Tymoshenko “confirmed their mutual desire to strictly comply with the presidents’ agreements of February 12.” Nevertheless, he made a reservation: “It would be very disingenuous to say that we have a complete coincidence of opinions.” Yulia Tymoshenko didn’t even raise an eyebrow at that moment. And the Russian prime minister continued that he supposedly values ​​“the spirit of frank communication on sensitive issues.” In particular, Mr. Zubkov mentioned cases of incorrect attitude in Ukraine towards domestic business. According to one of the members of the Russian delegation, we are talking about the raider ousting of our investors from the Kremenchug Oil Refinery, the invalidation of the tender for the Lugansk Diesel Locomotive, which was won by the Bryansk Machine-Building Plant, etc. (Later, Vladimir Putin also raised the topic of protecting the rights of Russian investors in Ukraine in a conversation with Yulia Tymoshenko).

However, Viktor Zubkov ended almost as pathetically and boundlessly positively as Mrs. Tymoshenko: “No benefit will outweigh the fate of our people.” On this touching note, almost an hour late, the Ukrainian Prime Minister went to Mr. Putin for dinner at the Novo-Ogarevo residence. And this morning she has breakfast with the head of Sberbank, German Gref.

Vera KUZNETSOVA