Translated material
Hospitality without lunch
Vladimir Putin and Yulia Tymoshenko held difficult negotiations in a “brotherly atmosphere”
Good neighborliness in relations between Russia and Ukraine has recently manifested itself exclusively during visits to Moscow by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko has long been no longer perceived in the Kremlin and the White House as an acceptable partner or even an interlocutor, and the complexity of the political situation forces us to consider all the actions of the parties in the context of the upcoming elections of the head of the Ukrainian state in the fall.Yesterday's Russian-Ukrainian day in Moscow, during which a meeting of the intergovernmental committee on economic issues, a one-on-one meeting between Vladimir Putin and Yulia Tymoshenko and expanded bilateral negotiations took place, confirmed that Madam Prime Minister is today the main counterpart from Kyiv .
“We are well aware of our responsibility for preserving the capital of cooperation connecting Russia and Ukraine. That is why we strive to act in a balanced and adequate manner, looking for mutually acceptable approaches to solving common problems. Our negotiations today are evidence of this,” Vladimir Putin said yesterday. And the Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin, answering a question from journalists about how the negotiations took place, noted that “the atmosphere was brotherly, almost in an embrace.” “It was so interesting that we worked without lunch,” RIA Novosti quotes him. “It’s just good that we are establishing cooperation and that the times when some kind of confrontation was felt are becoming a thing of the past,” Yulia Tymoshenko echoed her Russian partners. - I want to express my gratitude to you and the entire team for the fact that such constructive work is being built between us. Thank you very much for your hospitality."
However, behind public speeches it was clear that the Russian side’s resentment for the declaration on the modernization of the gas transportation system of Ukraine, which Mrs. Tymoshenko recently signed with the European Commission “behind Mr. Putin’s back,” did not go away. Kyiv's main hopes in the gas and financial spheres remain just hopes. The Prime Minister did not receive any promises from her Russian interlocutor to allocate a 5 billion loan, nor to change the payment scheme for Russian gas during the period of pumping it into underground storage facilities. It was also not possible to rewrite the gas supply contract in order to legally remove the possibility of imposing penalties for shortages of raw materials.
Mr. Putin noted that the issue of pumping gas into underground storage facilities was discussed during negotiations with the Ukrainian prime minister “in a businesslike manner, without noise and dust.” “The bottom line,” says Vremya Novostey’s source at Gazprom, “we only agreed on the terms of payment for gas supplied in April.” According to him, in the coming days, Gazprom will transfer about $250 million in advance payment for gas transit in 2009 to Naftogaz of Ukraine. Another $370 million, which the Ukrainian concern will have to transfer, according to preliminary data, for April, Kyiv promised find on your own. The money must arrive in Gazprom's accounts no later than May 7. It turns out that Naftogaz is again importing from Russia much less than the planned volumes - 2.3 billion cubic meters instead of the 3.4 billion specified in the contract. However, Moscow still turns a blind eye to this and does not provide Naftogaz with the amounts specified in the contract fines for shortfalls.
Ms. Tymoshenko said on this occasion: “I would like to express my gratitude to you for the fact that we find mutual understanding on those points of the contract that indicate that we should have taken the ordered volume of gas, but today we are taking as much as the crisis allows , and pay in full. It is important that such agreements exist.”
However, Moscow refused to consider the issue of changing the contract volumes, which the Ukrainian prime minister promised to raise during the negotiations before the visit. Both Vladimir Putin and Gazprom benefit from the current state of affairs: the opportunity to impose multi-billion dollar fines justified by the contract is a good tool for putting pressure on their counterparts. In addition, lowering the upper limit may lead to Naftogaz choosing even less gas than it does now.
Moscow is in no hurry to allocate an intergovernmental loan of $5 billion to Kyiv (the government of Yulia Tymoshenko needs it in order to qualify for the renewal of anti-crisis tranches from the IMF), as well as loans to pay for gas during the period of pumping underground gas storage facilities and the construction of two power units of the Khmelnitsky Nuclear Power Plant. “Today there is no final decision. There is an understanding of how to conduct consultations, the Russian Prime Minister said, noting that “additional research and consultations” are needed.
Answering the question whether Ukraine can pay for pumping gas into underground storage facilities (from April to October Naftogaz must pump about 19.5 billion cubic meters worth $4.8 billion into underground storage facilities) in exchange for ensuring the transit of Russian gas, Putin stated that for this Russia will have to “prepay” for transit for several years in advance. And he immediately went on the offensive against the offensive Brussels declaration. “If Gazprom pays for transit for several years in advance, and then the GTS (Ukrainian gas transportation system) undergoes changes, and if another company appears instead of Naftogaz, who should I ask? Ever since we saw the document (declaration - Ed. ), we’ve been scratching,” said the head of government to laughter in the hall, noticing that the journalist who asked the question scratched his head.
Even before the start of official negotiations, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko told the press that Russia and Ukraine exchanged draft intergovernmental agreements in the gas sector. He emphasized that the document implies, in particular, the possibility of Russia's participation in the modernization of the gas transportation system of Ukraine. According to him, this clause is available in both the Ukrainian and Russian versions of the project.
The signing of the agreement could become Russia’s political revenge for the Brussels declaration, although initially it was the Ukrainian side that insisted on consolidating the gas agreements between Gazprom and Naftogaz at the government level. The Russian concern does not need another political document; it is much more important to preserve the inviolability of the 10-year supply and transit contracts signed in January. The pressure on them from the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine remains great, and in the fall gas will once again become one of the main factors in the presidential race.
All the more interesting will be the agenda and content of the next meeting of the intergovernmental committee on economics, which, according to Mrs. Tymoshenko, will be held in Kyiv in September. Unless, of course, circumstances arise again in relations between governments that exclude Vladimir Putin’s arrival in the capital of Ukraine.