True friends

Vladimir Putin and Yulia Tymoshenko pretended to agree

When she comes to Vladimir Putin in Moscow, everything somehow mysteriously changes: plus to minus, minus to plus. Metamorphosis, transformation. No, she, Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, a woman - a political legend, a “gas princess” who has gained fame as an “iron lady”, does not become plasticine, does not deviate from her priorities of moving only to the West. However, the meaning of her statements and their tone in Moscow, especially in the presence of Vladimir Putin, are somehow very significantly different from what happens to be heard upon her return to Kyiv. Essentially, these are two different ladies.

So last Saturday in the Russian capital, another extremely pleasant for Prime Minister Putin (at least for those who did not know verbatim their one-on-one conversation) transformation of Mrs. Tymoshenko from an inconvenient partner into an understanding friend took place, during their meeting at level of co-chairmen of the Committee on Economic Cooperation between Russia and Ukraine.

In the end, the style of the prime ministers’ speech and even their intentions to “slow down,” that is, to calm the boiling Russian-Ukrainian relations, are not always in their political will. Ms. Tymoshenko said that she was not going to touch the Black Sea Fleet until the contract expired: “We have an agreement until 2017. And Ukraine will implement this agreement carefully and without deviations.” She recommended not to “inflame passions” on this issue. Mr Putin welcomed the intention.

We also had a more or less secular conversation regarding Ukraine's accession to NATO . Mrs. Tymoshenko repeated: “I will say firmly that the opinion of the people in this matter is decisive. And any path to NATO goes only through an all-Ukrainian referendum.” In response, Mr. Putin also laid out his well-known steadfast position as opposed to NATO expansion. But still, I couldn’t resist and poked fun at my partners’ industry a little: “Many Ukrainian enterprises are not at all capable of working according to NATO standards.” “As for sensitive technologies, we will, of course, discuss this in advance. And such production, regardless of any costs, will be transferred to Russian territory,” he noted, explaining that we have been working according to some NATO standards for a long time.

Among the pluses were plans to create a single interstate center for uranium enrichment and a free trade zone “in accordance with all WTO rules,” Ms. Tymoshenko emphasized.

It seems that even for the participants in the negotiations the gas problem remained the most murky and completely unclear. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko obliged Yulia Tymoshenko to resolve the gas issue with Moscow at least before October. However, neither Moscow nor the Ukrainian government is satisfied with this deadline. Since the budget layout must be completed by the end of July, or at least by mid-August. As a source in the Russian delegation confirmed in a conversation with a Vremya Novostei correspondent, this is how it should happen - a new gas price formula for Ukraine should be determined in July. “For now it is produced by business entities. And we are talking specifically about the price formula, the methodology for developing it, and not about political squabbles,” he emphasized.

However, Mr. Putin made this clear in the public part of the negotiations. Referring to the fact that “the price and transit of gas are the responsibility of economic entities,” the Russian Prime Minister explained: his government will strive to ensure that the new agreements are acceptable to Ukraine. “Russia would like to enter European pricing for Ukraine gradually,” - he added. “But the partners from Central Asia wanted to do this (increase gas prices - Ed. ) already from January 1, 2009. We are negotiating the result,” he again brought up the gas topic. But at the same time he said that if the Central Asian partners insist on their way, gas for Ukraine will cost $400 per thousand cubic meters.

Vera KUZNETSOVA