Russia's Gazprom considers Ukraine's stance in gas sector to be contentious and aimed to escalate the situation.
“The stance of Ukraine is open blackmail. No constructive steps and no compromises occurred from the very beginning and it appears to be a wish to escalate our relations in gas sector to the limit,” Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told reporters.
“Ukraine’s stance is strange. First, Ukraine demands super-low prices – the prices, which operate solely within the Customs Union. Ukraine demands re-export ban be cancelled. This means that Ukraine wants to re-sell our cheap Russian gas to the European Union and to make money on us in such a way. This is a strange position,” Miller said.
“The Ukrainian stance is absurd. Ukraine is opposed to Russia’s sovereign right to regulate prices via the mechanism of export customs fees. I can not call this position anything but absurd. Ukraine’s stance is categorical. Ukrainian Prime Minister Mr. [Arseniy] Yatseniuk said on Wednesday, June 11, that other ground for reaching agreements – but this strange and absurd stance of Ukraine – does not and can not exist. It is possible to agree solely and only on Ukrainian conditions,” he said.
“According to the European Commission, such statements are inappropriate and we agree with this,” Miller said.
“The statement of Ukrainian Prime Minister Mr. Yatseniuk was made during the trilateral consultations between the EU, Russia and Ukraine, and the Ukrainian prime minister virtually disrupted the trilateral consultations with this statement,” Miller said.
“Might Ukraine have some consultants probably? We see that from the very beginning of the talks Ukraine did not aspire any compromises and agreements,” he said.
