War of words intensifies over energy.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Aug. 31 that he was perplexed by Ukraine’s attempts secure a cut in gas prices and accused the former Soviet republic of trying to sponge off Moscow.
Medvedev, speaking in Sochi, said Ukraine wanted a discount in gas prices but was offering nothing to Russia in return.
“It is very sad, it is sponging,” Medvedev was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov responded on Sept. 1 saying that Ukraine wants a fair gas pricing formula, not cheap gas as Medvedev suggested.
Rhetoric between the two sides has intensified recently, as Ukraine seeks to renegotiate a 2009 gas deal in which it claims to be paying higher prices than some of its neighbors in the European Union.
On Sept. 1, a senior Ukrainian official speaking on condition of anonymity upped the ante, warning that Ukraine would file an appeal to settle the dispute through arbitration if negotiations fail to produce a result by October.
It seems to me that we have made a clear offer: if you want a gas discount, you must join the integrated zone…or you must make a business offer that has benefits for Russia, for example the sale of the gas transport grid.
– Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
The tense negotiations are being closely watched in Brussels due to their economic, energy security and geopolitical implications.
During previous disputes, Russia has shut down the pipeline that crosses Ukraine, cutting off natural gas supplies to the European Union.
Russia has pushed hard using energy prices and other levers of influence to make Ukraine drop its European Union integration plans.
Medvedev said that in order for Ukraine to obtain a discount it must either join the nascent customs union with Kazakhstan and Belarus or sell its pipeline grid to Russia.
“It seems to me that we have made a clear offer: if you want a gas discount, you must join the integrated zone…or you must make a business offer that has benefits for Russia, for example the sale of the gas transport grid,” Medvedev said according to Interfax.
But Ukrainian officials claim that they cannot accept lower gas prices in return for dropping European Union integration plans, and can’t – as a member of the World Trade Organization – join a joint customs union with non-WTO members (Russia, for example).
