Yalta – Ukraine's energy policy should be based on equal cooperation between Russia as a supplier, Ukraine as a transiting country, and the European Union as an energy consumer, Chairman of the Council of the Batkivschyna United Opposition Arseniy Yatseniuk has said.
During the 9th Yalta Annual Meeting on Sept. 15, Yatseniuk told
journalists that he sharply opposes the idea of creating a gas
consortium only with Russia.
“Today Russia is effectively controlling the whole energy market of
Ukraine – gas, oil, as well as electricity, and they also want to supply
Russian nuclear fuel elements to Ukrainian nuclear power plants.
Ukraine’s energy sphere completely depends on Russia,” the politician
said.
“Russia has energy sources, we have transit possibilities, and Europe has consumers and money to pay for this,” Yatseniuk said.
He said Ukraine needs investments, in particular from U.S. partners.
“The energy sphere should be diversified. We should not depend on one country,” Yatseniuk said.
He added that the country should change its energy policy.
“We extract 20 billion cubic meters of gas, which is two times more
than Poland consumes. With such energy ineffectiveness we will sponsor
Russia’s Gazprom for a long time,” he said.
